While the Israeli government is blocking the ceasefire agreement in Gaza agreed between IT and the Palestinian group of Hamas, delaying the progression towards phase two of the agreement, the demonstrators gathered outside the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday evening.
Yes, they were angry with his decision to unilaterally extend the first phase of the agreement, and frustrated by his delays in the fully implementation of the agreement, negotiated in January.
But their banners and slogans did not refer to the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, after Israel blocked the entry of humanitarian aid on Sunday.
Instead, the emphasis was placed on the Israeli captives left in Gaza while Netanyahu hangs out, apparently concentrated on the search for a means of avoiding ending the war.
Sunday, the actions of the Israeli government seemed to indicate the end of the ceasefire and a resumption of a total war against Gaza, even if the captives remain there.
Although the first phase of the ceasefire expired on Saturday, the agreement stipulated that the terms of the truce – including the flow of humanitarian aid in Gaza – would continue while negotiations for phase two have continued.
However, Israel announced on Sunday the emergence of a “Witkoff plan”-referring to the American envoy of the Middle East Steve Witkoff-who would see half of the captives released immediately and the other half after an agreement on a permanent ceasefire, mainly throwing the original cease-fire agreement.
Israel took advantage of the opportunity of the agreement – that neither the United States nor Witkoff himself confirmed the existence – to restore his blockade of Gaza, sending food prices that are soaring there.
The United Nations Fund for the United Nations (UNICEF) warned that the aid blockade had led “devastating consequences” for children and families in Gaza beaten by 16 months of war.
Collective punishment is prohibited under Geneva conventions, Professor Gerry Simpson of the London School of Economics in Tel Aviv Tribune, independently of which apply it, told Professor.
“The fact that it is formulated as a form of punishment suggests a certain contempt for the laws of war, but that contempt does not make these laws zero or unimportant,” he said.
In addition to the suspension of aid, the Israeli government is also considering the approval of a bill which would allow it to call 400,000 of its reserve soldiers in anticipation of a renewed conflict in Gaza.
In the wake of the attack on October 7, 2023 against Israel, 300,000 reserve soldiers were called, the greatest mobilization in the history of Israel at the time.
Angry families
While Israeli public anger towards Netanyahu for the current breakdown of negotiations is not yet widespread, the former Ambassador and Consul General of Israel in New York, Alon Pinkas, told Tel Aviv Tribune that he was likely that the impasse was continuing, until it becomes “clear that it (Netanyahu) was looking for a pretext to break the chisel and as well as the hosts condemned to death.”
The fate of the 251 captives taken prisoner during the October 7 attack represented a line line in Israeli public criticism of its Prime Minister.
However, the last weeks – when the images of captives that return to their families have dominated the media – have in turn raised the voices of their families, who often criticize Netanyahu.
People protesting outside the Netanyahu residence on Sunday evening, on Sunday by families of captives, clearly said they thought that the Prime Minister was to blame for the dead end to finish the cease-fire agreement.
At a press conference held by a certain number of families of captives earlier the same day, Lishay Miran-Lavi, whose husband Omri Miran remains in Gaza, rejected the assertions of certain members of the Cabinet of Israel, including Netanyahu, that no agreement is possible while Hamas remains existing, saying to journalists, “hostages immediately, Hamas”.
“Netanyahu knows that he has no monopoly on the story at the moment,” said Israeli political analyst, Ori Goldberg, “there is therefore a risk that, with this delay, he can find himself under the increased fire of the hostages of hostages, who have a lot of public sympathy”.
Goldberg suggested that this, among other factors linked directly to Netanyahu’s political survival, could limit the duration of the current dead end.
Bad faith
Skepticism on Netanyahu’s commitment to the ceasefire agreement is not new. Since its creation, the Prime Minister has hinted at his desire to break the agreement in order to place his criticisms, while using the existence of the ceasefire to reassure the families of the captives and their supporters.
In January, Netanyahu pointed out her intention to break the agreement during the negotiation with her Minister of Finance Hard Bezalel Smotrich to stay in the cabinet and not to join his colleague Minister of the Far Right of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir to resign his post on the prospect of reaching a cease-fire contract with Hamas.
As part of his agreement with Smotrich, Netanyahu would have assured the Minister of Finance that the ceasefire was temporary and that military operations in Gaza would resume to dismantle the military and governing capacities of Hamas once the truce “temporary” ended.
Negotiations on a permanent ceasefire were to be included in the second step.
“People don’t really trust Netanyahu,” said Tel Aviv’s analyst Nimrod Flashenberg. “A large part of the public doubted that the ceasefire will hold from the start, but we really don’t know what will happen next. Much of this depends on Trump’s administration (US President Donald). »»
For many observers, everything, from the delay in the progress of the second stage of the ceasefire agreement to ambiguity, which suggested that its suspension was typical of a Prime Minister who had benefited from sowing confusion among his criticisms for years.
“That’s what he does,” said Goldberg. “This is what everyone in Israel expects from him. Politically, there is no reason for that. He has no political rivals; He has the settlers on the side (sound) side. That’s just what he does.
“For Netanyahu, these Byzantine programs are essential to keep the Israeli State ship on the caps,” he said.
“Netanyahu’s public criticism is not on the grounds that it retains aid or blocks the negotiations, it is that it hurts it: it sells it badly,” said Goldberg. “They believe that if they were in charge, they could reduce assistance to Gaza and gain applause to do this.”
