The then part of Israel’s war in Gaza defined

Israel seems to be getting fed up with the depth of its war in Gaza – just as every other battle it is fighting is coming to an end.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled in a television interview on Sunday that he intends to advance one of the country’s most important armies to the northern border to fight Lebanon-based militia Hezbollah. If it weren’t for the war in Gaza, that war would probably already be capturing the world’s attention. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant may visit Washington this hour partly to talk with US officials about the consequences of that tension.

However, as part of the same interview and another interview that followed on Monday, Netanyahu, in traditional style, made conflicting statements about his intentions regarding the weeks of fighting in Gaza.

In an interview earlier Sunday, Netanyahu decided not to include a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a demand in the deal proposed by President Joe Biden, that would return remaining Israeli hostages. However, the Israeli leader also said that the army would soon end its activities in Gaza.

“The acute phase of the war will end very soon… but that does not mean that the war will end,” Netanyahu said. “I am willing to make a partial agreement, which will bring some people back to us. This is not a secret. But we are committed to continuing the war even after the ceasefire.”

However, on Monday, Netanyahu appeared to take his comments a little further.

“We remain committed to the Israeli proposal for a hostage settlement, which President Biden has welcomed, our position has not changed. The second thing, which does not contradict the first, is that we will not end the war until we destroy Hamas,” he said in the tone of the Israeli parliament.

It is not possible to maintain both positions, and there is little clarity about where Netanyahu stands.

On the other hand, what has become increasingly cloudless is that Israel’s war is moving into an unprecedented phase, largely due to rising tensions on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.

Netanyahu may say publicly that he is in favor of a ceasefire. However, World Disaster Crew senior Israel analyst Mairav ​​Zonszen said the world community should take any comments from Netanyahu with a “grain of salt” and that his actions could be dangerous. Be extra instructive regarding the interpretation of its intentions in Gaza.

“We can see how he has viewed the situation from the beginning, which is that he is not interested in a strategy in this war that has some kind of end game, that has some kind of exit strategy, that allows hostages to be Give priority,” he said.

Netanyahu’s activities so far are in line with the three-step plan for Gaza that he and his advisers created at the beginning of the war: First, to eliminate Hamas forces and regime facilities in Gaza (an objective that many security Was done together with experts) Israel, imagine this is not possible); 2d, “eliminating areas of resistance” in Gaza through low-intensity fighting; And third, “the creation of a new security regime” in Gaza that could take away Israel’s “responsibility for daily life” there.

Israel has not yet been able to achieve even its first goal. In that sense, Netanyahu may have no intention of signing a ceasefire agreement any time soon, although Israel may slightly reduce its operations in Gaza. This is because it relies on a right-wing religious nationalist coalition that wants the war to continue. The alliance is keeping him in power amid calls for early elections in Israel and his move closer to war, while also protecting him from ongoing corruption trials.

However, his social statements have periodically indicated that he is open to a permanent truce. This may be an effort to appease the families of various Israeli hostages and the United States, Israel’s closest friend, on whose military and political support it depends. Hostage families have recently stepped up their campaign to get Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire so their captive families can be brought home. Biden has also voiced his support for a ceasefire proposal and wants to end the war, especially before the November US elections.

Netanyahu is trying to “immediately signal to Biden and the world that he is ready for a deal, but still pander to his base and his political interests by not agreeing to a deal,” Zonszin said.

All this means that a ceasefire is probably not imminent. However whenever Israel delays the ceasefire, blackmail on its northern border with Lebanon increases.

For months, Israel has been doing business with Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Islamic terrorist group, and the Lebanese political party.

Hezbollah, which is designated as the May 15 Organization by several countries, was the first to announce its campaign, saying it was in “solidarity with the victorious Palestinian resistance.” The gang has said it will not stop its attacks on Israel’s northern border until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza. However, it is growing impatient with the ceasefire talks through which Hamas and Israel do not seem to have agreed on any guarantees even after 8 months of war in Gaza.

So far, as my activist Joshua Keating pointed out, the human casualties and displacement in Israel and Lebanon caused by this northern fighting have been far less than the extreme toll in the south. Nevertheless, given the military strength of both sides, it “could have been – and still could be – worse.”

Netanyahu did not appear to be hinting at an attack on agricultural land in Lebanon. However, rapid escalation with Hezbollah can be tragic, as Israel’s earlier wars with Hezbollah in 1996 and 2006 show. There were huge civilian casualties in Lebanon in any one of these conflicts, with more than 1,200 people killed.

It could also be a black mark on the United States, which has supported Israel since the beginning of the war and played a major role in armistice talks aimed at maintaining balance in the Middle East. Over the past 8 months, US officials such as National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan have repeatedly stressed that one of the key US goals is to “try to stop this conflict that is currently raging regionally in Israel and Gaza.” It is from spreading.” Confrontation.”

“The United States must take Israel’s announcements and actions seriously – and take its own action to stop Israel’s recklessness,” said Thanasis Kambanis, director of the hawkish think tank Century World. “The US government is becoming more and more deeply implicated in Israel’s (alleged) war crimes, and what has proven to be a humanitarian disaster and an epic strategic blunder on top of that.”

Now, both Israel and Hezbollah are preparing for the possibility that what has so far been border hostilities could escalate into a full-scale war that would engulf the entire Middle East. Recently, Hezbollah dismissed drone photos of Israeli military grounds as showing that there are flaws in the country’s air defense system that mobs could exploit. Meanwhile, Israel is planning to advance the troops deployed in Gaza to its northern border these days.