Israel starts major offensive in Gaza – Diepresse.com

The nightly air strikes were only the start of a massive military operation, at the end of which « operational control in areas of the Gaza strip » is to be: Israel launched a new major offensive on Gaza under the name « Gideon’s Chariots ». The army will “carry out extensive attacks and mobilize troops to achieve the war goals – including the release of hostages and the smell of the terrorist organization Hamas“The military said about social media. Within just one day, over 150 people were killed according to Palestinian information – overall, the number of victims has been in 53,200 people since the beginning of the war, including fighters and civilians. Israel has been delivering humanitarian aid for 75 days.

After the operation began, Hamas surprisingly announced on Saturday that he wanted to continue negotiations on a hostage agreement with Israel « without preconditions ». The indirect conversations between Israel and the Islamist terrorist organization in Doha, conveyed by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, had stalled a few months ago. The offensive has now led to rethinking at Hamas, said Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz. A team of Israeli negotiators ended up in Doha days ago.

« Go in full of strength »

The Israeli Air Force had strengthened its bomb attacks on the Gaza Strip in preparation for the new major offensive since Tuesday. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the operation at a meeting with Israeli reservists at the beginning of the week. He wanted to « go in full of strength and leave nothing of Hamas, » said the Prime Minister. Neither the release of hostages nor a ceasefire could dissuade him from it. Accordingly, Israel accepts only a capitulation of the terrorist organization in the negotiations on the Israelis deported by Hamas, while returning all 58 living and deceased hostages, as a prerequisite for an end to the war. Hamas had recently rejected a proposal supported by the USA. He would have provided for the release of half of the hostage still living hostage on the first day of a ceasefire and subsequent negotiations to terminate the war.

Netanyahu expects that due to the fighting, more than half of the approximately two million Palestinians will leave the Gaza Strip. This is likely to trigger memories of flight and displacement during the war after the founding of Israel in 1948 and the Six Day War in 1967.

Netanyahu’s plan corresponds to the vision of Donald Trump, who wants to transform the Gaza Strip into a holiday fieldorado on the Mediterranean. On his four-day four-day tour through the Gulf States Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Emirates, Trump confirmed his intention to « take » the Gaza Strip and to transform it into a « freedom zone ».

Tensions between Trump and Netanyahu

As Trump and Netanyahu are likely to be about the future of the Gaza Strip, there seem to be tensions in other areas. In his first term of office, Trump had stopped on his Middle East trip in Israel. Not this time, which was surprising in some observers. After all, you visit a narrow ally when you are already traveling in the neighborhood. This could be related to Trump’s mercantile spirit. He has concluded hundreds of billions of heavy contracts on his trip. Israel cannot keep up. The Jewish state is far from being so attractive. In Trump’s way of thinking, Israel only costs – after all, it receives military aid from the USA. Since the beginning of the war against Hamas on October 7, 2023, it has been up to $ 17.9 billion.

The origin of the discrepancies is likely to be in terms of content. The Trump administration is solely negotiated with Iran, the Huthis in Yemen and the Syrian President, often without involving the Israeli government and taking their interests into account. So Israel is not said to have been informed about the upcoming armistice with the Huthis. Jerusalem was against the abolition of all Syria sanctions announced by Trump. Most recently, Trump announced that Iran would be on the end of an atomic agreement.