1/2/2024–|Last updated: 1/2/202407:28 PM (Mecca time)
Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold two meetings today of the War Council and the Mini Security Council to discuss post-war arrangements in the Gaza Strip.
The two meetings come amid disagreements between Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the issue of the next day after the war, according to what the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Netanyahu had said – in a speech during his party’s bloc meeting in the Knesset – that “there will be no return for the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to their homes, and no change in the firing orders.”
He stressed that Israel “acts in accordance with what serves its interests,” noting that there are agreements, and sometimes disagreements, with the United States regarding the war.
He also said that “we will continue the war until the end and achieve complete victory for the sake of all the soldiers who fell in the battle.”
In turn, Gallant said earlier today that they have no intention of stopping the fighting in Gaza, and that “the belief that Israel is on its way to stopping the fighting is incorrect.”
He added, “If we do not achieve victory in the Gaza war, we will not be able to live in the Middle East.”
third level
Today’s meeting and the statements of the political and military leadership in Israel come at a time when Israeli military analyst Amos Harel believes that the army is actually moving towards a “third phase” of the war in Gaza, which will witness the withdrawal of its forces from the Gaza Strip and the demobilization of many reserve forces, while reducing the pace of bombing.
Israeli reports stated that Washington had asked Israel to begin implementing the third phase this week, while the occupation army announced during the past two days a reduction in the number of its forces in Gaza, but did not officially acknowledge the start of implementing this phase.
According to sources, the third stage requires the Israeli army to move from the stage of intensive bombing to targeted bombing and the withdrawal of forces from inside Gaza to the border between the two sides (the Gaza envelope areas).
In this context, Harel said – in an analytical report in Haaretz newspaper – that the Israeli army is “moving quietly towards the third phase of its much-talked about campaign.”
He added, “Many reserve brigades are scheduled to be demobilized during the next few days, after about 3 months of fighting.”
He pointed out that “this step is not only aimed at relieving pressure on the economy, but also because the intensity of fighting in northern Gaza is decreasing,” as he put it.
A major challenge
He added, “The rate of Israeli casualties recorded in the past few days was lower than in the previous two weeks, and this may be due to the fact that the fighting was concentrated in smaller areas,” according to his assessment.
The Israeli military analyst pointed out that “the main challenge facing the Israeli army is the need to enter and clear densely built-up areas, where the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has set up traps in many homes and fired rocket shells from a short distance, most of them by (resistance) groups that come out.” From the tunnels.
It is noteworthy that the occupation army has launched a continuous aggression against the Gaza Strip for the 88th day in a row since the beginning of last October, causing great destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, while the number of its victims exceeded 22 thousand martyrs, most of them women and children, and more than 57 thousand wounded.
