The outside world condemns Israel’s plans for re -occupation of Gaza
On Monday, Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed that Israel intends to re -occupy Gaza And expel the more than two million Palestinians that remain for special « humanitarian » zones in southern Gaza. Tactics go, according to military sources to Axiosout on « Occupation, deletion and forced removal through massive destruction », something that Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has confirmed.
The deadline for the operation – « Operation Gideon’s combat carts » – is stated to be on May 15, when Trump begins his planned visit to the Middle East.
So far, Trump has not commented on the play. According to several media tasks, this is because Trump has given Netanyahu green light while he himself shifted the focus. Also, there is no visit to Israel to be – the stop on the trip will be Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
But a claim has Trump Set on Israel. « You have to be kind to the Gazabs. They suffer. There is a great need for food and medicines, » he claimed that he told Netanyahu when he met reporters last Sunday.
According to Axios Is there an agreement between the US and Israel that involves a newly started private foundation based in Switzerland to take over the distribution of all aid to Gaza. It should be delivered to special facilities where civilians, which will be checked hard, may take once a week to retrieve one food package per family per week. It is still not known who is behind the foundation, but two American security companies are behind the recruitment of staff.
The UN has condemned the planwhich violates the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence. All major international aid organizations refuse to cooperate with the foundation and believe that it not only contravenes international law, it also exposes civilians and auxiliary workers to great danger.
Isabelle Schirenbeck, professor at the University of Gothenburg and Israel connoisseur, also thinks it will be difficult to implement:
– Not even the Israeli military thinks it is a good idea, they do not want to be involved in being responsible for the security of this type of humanitarian effort, she says.
According to her, there is It also has no support from the military to re -occupy Gaza:
– Few leading military strategists or former high -ranking military thinks this is the way to go – not only because it would happen at the price of hostage, but because you left Gaza once for a reason – it was too expensive to keep the area and you do not want to return to that scenario.
She sees several root causes for Netanyahus play about re -occupation:
1. He is so « domestic politically crowded » by his right-wing coalition partners, Foreign Minister Smotrich and Security Minister Ben-Gvir that he has no choice to keep his government together. They have repeatedly stated that it is more important to continue the war than to get rid of hostage.
Keeping up the government for Netanyahu is also about pushing through the criticized reform to give the Supreme Court and the state prosecutor less power and to cover their own, ongoing corruption investigations and the fact that he himself opposes a state investigation into the events on October 7, 2023.
2. It may be an attempt to push Hamas who has already said to refuse to make concessions. They want full ceasefire to release the 59 remaining hostages, while Israel wants a limited ceasefire with the release of primarily up to ten hostages.
3. The connection to Trump’s upcoming visit to the Middle East. There is a concern in Israel that you do not know where Trump really stands. If he goes into bilateral negotiations with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates who benefit him, they may require Trump to ensure that the war in Gaza ceases immediately – which would put Netanyahu in a difficult seat.
For the outside world Is it just to wait and see. Israel has never bothered as if what Europe, international courts, the UN or the Arab world considers, and will not do now, either, says Aron Lund at FOI. But almost 70 percent of the Israelis want to end the war, several calls with protests in the military and universities are shaking the Israeli government, Schirenbeck says.
– If the EU decided to boycott Israel and exclude them from certain contexts, it could put a higher pressure on the incumbent government in Israel. The United States can also exercise its power to stop what even the Israeli military calls « madness, » says Michael Schulz, professor of peace and development research.
Read more:
Protests in Israel after the decision to occupy the entire Gaza Strip
