Occupied Jerusalem- Sharp disagreements took place in the Israeli “war cabinet” session, in which a number of Israeli detainees who were released as part of the exchange deal between Israel and the Islamic resistance movement Hamas participated, in the presence of a delegation from the families of detainees who remained in the Gaza Strip.
The session brought more pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to reach a comprehensive deal and free all detainees. While the families’ demands to expedite the release of those remaining in Gaza – who number 139 detainees with official Israeli recognition – herald a return to the protests that escalated before the end of the truce last Friday morning, and to exerting more pressure on the Israeli government to implement other stages of the exchange in exchange for extending the cessation. shooting.
The session, which was described as “noisy”, included an exchange of accusations with officials, while some relatives of the detainees directed insults at members of the war council, and there were initial signs of an escalation in protests demanding a move towards a comprehensive exchange deal.
The debate witnessed by the session and the criticism directed by the families of Israelis detained by Hamas to the members of the “War Cabinet” reflected the differences in positions regarding the developments of the war and the feasibility of the ground incursion, and whether this operation achieved its goals.
The analyzes intersected with the hostage families’ suggestion that the liberation of the Israeli detainees was achieved through an exchange deal, and not through military operations.
Israeli writer Nadav Eyal directed strong criticism at the political and governmental level, asking: Where is the diplomatic campaign to liberate the Israelis from Gaza? Why don’t you take action to free the hostages? He said, “The possibility of eliminating Hamas will be in our hands in the future as well, and the lives of the Israeli hostages in Gaza are at risk.”
Eyal says in an article in Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, “Netanyahu was unable to rise to the occasion, and Israel has discovered more than ever since October 7 that compassion is not its strong point.”
Package deal
According to the “all for all” principle proposed by the Palestinian resistance (that is, all Israeli detainees in Gaza in exchange for all Palestinian prisoners in occupation prisons), the Israeli writer says, “It may be far-fetched, since estimates indicate that the Israeli security establishment will never agree to it, and in the end Ultimately, the kidnappers are the ultimate human shield for the Hamas leadership’s tunnel network.”
Eyal doubted the feasibility of ground maneuvers in pressuring Hamas to free more Israeli detainees. Eyal based his proposal on what a senior Israeli official linked to the war administration told him, who stated, “There is not the slightest doubt if there is any additional proposal to free more Israelis from prison.” Gaza, we will discuss and negotiate, and if we have to, we will stop the military operation for a few days.”
Detainees and the conduct of the war
Amid this debate and the issue of detainees at the forefront, the military correspondent for Maariv newspaper, Tal Lev Ram, believes that “with the rate of ground advance, as well as the intensity of the fighting and battles, the discourse calling for the liberation of Israeli detainees will return.”
The military correspondent expected that the ground battles in Khan Yunis would gradually increase and become the main effort of the Israeli army. He said, “Dealing with Khan Yunis represents a different challenge, as it is still crowded with Gazans who fled the war zone in the northern Gaza Strip.”
According to the correspondent, “There is a large part of Hamas’s senior leadership in Khan Yunis. They will head towards Rafah, which will be prevented by the Israeli army, which is still far from controlling the land and the tunnel network underneath it. The issue of the kidnappers may also have an impact on operational activity, and this element is also important in Planning to avoid harming the kidnappers.”
The correspondent believes that “the psychological warfare waged by Hamas will escalate in the coming days, and after using a large military force, Israel will attempt to take another important step to liberate the abductees, when it is clear that the passage of time exposes them to great danger, especially the elderly, the wounded, and the sick.”
Goals and time
With regard to the conduct of the war on Gaza, Amos Harel, a military analyst in Haaretz newspaper, explained that after two months of harsh war, the fighting in the Gaza Strip is actually escalating, at a time when the impression of both the United States and the Army General Staff has strengthened. The Israeli statement said that Netanyahu was conducting the war based on political considerations.
But the continuation of the fighting, the military analyst says, “would deepen the damage to senior Hamas leaders, as the systematic attack has not yet reached the level of Sinwar and his group, and this is indeed one of the difficulties facing Israel, as intelligence is investing a huge operational and intelligence effort with the clear goal of trying to reach Sinwar before the end of the war.
Harel adds, “The leadership in Israel can also use the damage caused to Gaza and Hamas leaders as a justification for reducing the ground attack and shortening the war, but it is not clear whether its goals can be achieved in a short time frame, as there are only weeks left until all stages of the ground operation are completed.” .
He continues, “But Netanyahu does not manage the Israeli strategy on the basis of practical, security and military considerations. He refrains from discussing his plans regarding Gaza for the next day, and stubbornly refuses to leave a foothold for the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip, solely because of the coalition restrictions in the government and his far-right partners.”
Israel and the image of victory
As the Israeli war on Gaza entered its third month, the editor of the Walla website, Nir Kipnis, wrote an article entitled “60 days after the war, is Israel moving away from the image of victory?”
“The people of Israel fought this war with complete faith, and with each passing day it becomes clearer that this credit we have given to our government and our army is a veritable hourglass that is running out,” he said.
He added, “This war, which from the first hour of its outbreak, while some of the senior officers were still asleep in their beds, shook us to our foundations, and dropped us into a larger and deeper gap than we thought, between our self-image and the reality that is still shaking and shaking Israel.”
It is possible, says the editor, “that the policies and approaches of the Hamas movement will lead to its end and its elimination in the future, but in the meantime, it is mostly counting victories, even though entire neighborhoods in Gaza have been leveled, Hamas frees prisoners, which is perhaps the proudest cause in hearts of the Palestinians.
He added, “Hamas only releases whomever it wants, according to the criteria and categories it has specified. It releases Israeli detainees whenever it wants, and it even delays the release of women and children, as it was also hinted in Israel that some of those included in this category are small in number, and Hamas is not interested in revealing the matter.” “Revealed their names without a deal.”
