Israel has abandoned its goals of freeing hostages in Gaza, preferring to establish a long-term presence with its ground offensive in Rafah and hunt down key Palestinian leaders, Israeli military officers told Reuters. Middle East Eye.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, three officers, including one serving in Gaza, questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy in the ongoing war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians and n failed to recover the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7.
An officer thus declared to MEE that the government’s goals were unclear, and that the goal of rescuing the hostages and destroying Hamas had “collapsed.”
“Hunting down Yahya Sinwar”
“Netanyahu’s operations in Gaza are fundamentally aimed at…hunting down Yahya Sinwar,” assured the officer in Gaza, adding that the war had become “personal” for the Israeli Prime Minister.
Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the enclave, is Israel’s number one target and has not been seen in public since the start of the war.
The officer indicated to MEE that Israel had become “obsessed” with Sinwar and the upper echelons of the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing.
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According to comments by a Hamas official last month, Sinwar visited combat zones on the ground and held deliberations with the group’s leadership abroad.
Speaking to the pan-Arab media Al-Arabi al-Jadeed, The Hamas official claimed that Sinwar did not always stay in the tunnels, as Israel claims, but also carried out his duties on the ground. MEE was unable to independently verify information about his whereabouts.
The military officer in Gaza also expressed fears that the strategy of carrying out special operations against high-ranking individuals in a densely populated area risked making the conflict “perpetual”, and would inevitably involve Israeli casualties. and subsequent “retaliations” by the army.
“The military and intelligence services are incapable of making the right decisions in this regard,” one of the sources said.
A plan agreed with the United States
One officer, who is currently not on duty in Gaza, mentioned that a “new phase” of the war was being planned, involving a long-term military presence through special operations.
“This plan was partially approved by the United States,” the officer told MEE. “This is all part of a plan agreed between the two countries for a Hamas-free Gaza. »
MEE contacted the US State Department and the Israeli military for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
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The United States has previously said it opposes the reoccupation of Gaza or the reestablishment of a permanent Israeli presence in the territory.
Israel has repeatedly stated that its main war objectives remain “the return of our hostages and the elimination of Hamas.”
According to the Source, the planned long-term presence includes a ground invasion of Rafah, launched earlier this week by Israel.
Israeli forces stormed the Palestinian part of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Tuesday May 7. Hours earlier, their troops had cut a main road east of Rafah.
The temporary closure came after several days of heavy air raids and deadly bombings on Rafah, where around 1.5 million displaced Palestinians have sought refuge for months.
It also followed an announcement by Hamas that it accepted a US-brokered ceasefire proposal that led to the release of all Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, at the end of the war and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Everything that Israeli leaders have been “discussing for a while” is happening now, according to one of the military sources, who added that a temporary truce would likely follow to quell anti-government protests in Israel.
Hamas has reiterated that it will not accept a temporary truce.
“A few hostages could be exchanged. But the hostages no longer worry anyone”
– An officer to MEE
“A few hostages could be exchanged. But the hostages no longer worry anyone,” the Source said.
Israel estimates that 128 of the approximately 250 hostages taken to Gaza during Hamas’ surprise attack in October are still there, and that 35 are believed to be dead. Hamas says at least 70 hostages were killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Protests in Israel, led by the hostages’ families, called on the government to end the war in Gaza and bring their loved ones home.
In response to Hamas’ agreement to the US-brokered ceasefire proposal on Monday, Netanyahu’s office said the Palestinian group’s position fell “far from meeting Israel’s main demands.”
But he added that Israel would “send a high-ranking delegation to Egypt with the aim of maximizing the possibility of reaching an agreement on terms acceptable to Israel.”
Representatives of Hamas and Israel left Cairo after two days of negotiations without reaching an agreement.
Hamas sent a message to the other Palestinian factions to explain its point of view on the state of indirect negotiations with Israel which have been taking place since Wednesday in Cairo. “The delegation left Cairo for Doha. The occupation [Israël]rejected the proposal submitted by the mediators which we had accepted. As a result, the ball is now squarely in the occupation’s court,” the Palestinian group said in the letter.
Since then, Israel has increased its strikes in the Gaza Strip. In the early hours of Friday, AFP teams reported Israeli artillery fire towards Rafah, and witnesses of airstrikes and fighting in Gaza City.
Translated from English (original) and updated.
