On the verge of his first anniversary at the helm of the White House, Donald Trump He wanted to remove a thorn that had been stuck for months. Last week, the American president announced with great fanfare the official start of the second phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. But many fear or, rather, wish that theirs are empty words. His Israeli allies have not wanted to take him seriously – the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahuhas dismissed the announcement as a simple “declarative action“— y Hamas remains unwilling to hand over its weapons without the withdrawal of Israeli troops. In turn, the Gazan town He notes that nothing has changed as he buries the last of his dead at the hands of the Israeli Army.
“What the people of Gaza need to live with dignity and security is not linked to no government or international organization“, he denounces Ahmeda Gazan displaced with his family to central Gaza. With the new announcements from the Trump Administration about the second phase of the truce and the formation of the Peace Board that will supervise the transitional government made up of Palestinian technocrats“they do not offer anything clear.” “There is no guarantee of stopping the attacksno signs of a return to normality and there is no security for the occupation [en referencia a Israel] “commit” to what was agreed, he explains to this newspaper while reporting on the recent attacks he is suffering around him.
Obsession with ending wars
During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. A year after their return to the White House, both are still well active. In October, the American president scored a point by forcing Israelis to access a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave. It is, at the moment, the longest truce since the beginning of the Israeli military offensive two autumns ago, which has devastated more than 71,440 Palestinian lives. “The first phase of the ceasefire had the main objective of end intensive warand that is what happened, so we could consider this first stage successful,” states Ghaith Al-Omariresearcher at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, to EL PERIÓDICO.
“I don’t think this intensive war will return anytime soon, because Trump doesn’t want me to come back“Adds Al-Omari. However, the joy of those initial days has been exhausted for weeks, and that is tiring Trump. Despite his negotiating effortsthe large-scale conflict in Gaza is both stopped and blocked, because, until their announcements this week, there seemed to be no progress. During these three months, more than 450 Palestinians They have been murdered by the Israeli Army, despite the truce. Now, the government of Palestinian technocrats that is to govern Gaza during this transitional period has been formed, and the Peace Board that he must supervise it and that the American president will direct it, too. But Netanyahu’s Executive does not seem to be moving along the same line.
Netanyahu and the ultras, to theirs
The most radical members of the coalition have no qualms about openly defy Trump by publicly advocating for occupation of the Strip. The 20-point plan drawn up by the American president explicitly rules out Israeli military presence or the annexation of Gazan territory. “We need to be present in Gaza and throughout the territory of Israel,” declared a few days ago the Minister of Justice, Yariv Levina member of Netanyahu’s Likud. “Israel must maintain control of the Gaza Strip,” added the far-right lawmaker. Simcha Rothmanduring a conference held in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, entitled ‘Gaza – The Day After’.
This same week, international media, such as The Wall Street Journalor Israelis, like The Times of Israel, They reported on the Netanyahu’s parallel plans. The prime minister, skeptical that Washington can ensure the disarmament of Hamas, has had the Israeli military design a contingency plan to seize more territory of the Strip. These new intensive military operations seek to finish what the ceasefire forced them to leave halfway, including a Gaza City offensive scheduled for March. Something like this would come into direct collision with Trump’s peace proposal, which includes the deployment of international forces of peacekeeping. However, this remains another of the unknowns of the immediate future of Gaza because no country has committed to them.
Unknowns of the second phase
The second phase of the truce includes commitments that the parties involved do not seem willing to accept, which puts Trump in a complicated situation. With your announcement, you have not clarified how you will ensure that Hamas hand over weaponseven though the group has refused to do so until Israeli troops withdraw from the territory. There is also no information about how will it be financed the Peace Board nor the government of Palestinian technocrats, nor how the enormous challenge of reconstruction. Only the withdrawal of 68 million tons of debris existing in the Strip would take seven years to complete, according to the United Nations. Ali Shaath He is the former government official chosen to run Gaza as head of the Palestinian technocratic committee and plans to push the wreckage into the Mediterranean Sea and rebuild the destroyed infrastructure within three years.
Since October, this ceasefire has worked without a specific schedule. Trump’s announcement this week was made unilaterally, without the Israeli Government recognizing it, although the Palestinian Authority did welcome it by announcing the creation of the committee of technocrats. Meanwhile, in Gaza, the majority of the population survives poorly in makeshift homes or damaged buildings in 47% of the territory from which Israeli troops have withdrawn. With the entry into force of the truce, Hamas quickly regained control of these areas and stays there strongmaking disarmament and the transition of power difficult. Gazans, for their part, demand to have their own voice in all this. “We are not numbers,” Ahmed recalls. “We want to decide our destiny for ourselves,” he concludes.
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