After six Israeli captives were discovered shot dead in one of the tunnels in Gaza over the weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for the first time in the past 11 months of ongoing conflict, extended his regret to the bereaved families.
“Let me say how regretful I am and to apologize for the fact that I cannot see Sasha Lobanov living today,” he told the parents of Alexander Lobanov in the first of a series of such phone calls.
Don’t lose sight of the fact that the slip might turn out to be evidence that this is the end of the longest war Israel has waged against Hamas, in the wake of futile efforts to hit out at a ceasefire agreement for several months. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets demanding that the government reach a cease-fire agreement on Sunday, whilst the head trade union launched a work boycott that closed down banks, shopping centers and even the airports the following Monday.
Yoav Limor, a commentator for the Israel Hayom newspaper, said, “Netanyahu understood that the last straw had been crossed”, a clear reference to the palpable feeling among some Israelis that the government was not proactive enough in rescuing the captives. “As of yesterday, Israel is not the same country.”
What that means for Netanyahu’s stance on the war remains to be seen. On Monday night, he appeared at a defiant press conference where he said that Israel will not relinquish control over the border area that runs between Gaza and Egypt, as Hamas has been asking, the Philadelphi corridor.
While speaking of Israel’s dominance over the region, he stated that it is important in order to ‘”defeat Hamas, return hostages and make sure that Gaza will not be a threat any more”. He argued several reasons in favor of that, “If we leave, we won’t come back”, singling out “huge international pressure” that would be placed on Israel.
He argued that Hamas has brought in a lot of systems through that corridor which Hamas used to attack Israel. That route is critical for these arms and for the infrastructure, which must be under the control of Israel.
A lot of people suggest American President Joe Biden’s administration should take this opportunity to put pressure on Israel as well as Hamas to finally come to some sort of settlement. The US and other supplies, primarily Qatar and Egypt, worked out this week an ultimatum-style final offer, Justice reported.
“We’re very close” to tabling a proposal, Biden told reporters at the White House on Monday. When posed with the question, if Netanyahu is ensuring enough to rescue the hostages, he said simply, “No”.
With the invasion, Israel has led its campaign in Gaza after thousands of Hamas fighters poured into the south of the country on 7 October 1200 people were killed and 250 people were taken hostage. At that time the administration has followed two often mutually exclusive objectives: to wipe out the military- political base of the group and to return the hostages alive.
As long as the warfare lasts – which in health authorities in Gaza controlled by Hamas saw more than 40 thousand Palestinians killed – Israel had hoped that Hamas held hostages in order to bargain for accepting demands like the release of Palestinian detainees. The fact that some hostages have been found dead contradicts this position.
“Such developments mean that Hamas has undermined its command a year after the last war. In a nutshell, Israel’s strategy of using more military force, so one can say was quite effective, is no longer going to further the purpose. This is a dangerous game and Netanyahu may have to change the current policy wields,” said Hassan, a military leader in Hamas.” Hostages will “go back to their families in coffins” if Netanyahu keeps insisting on securing their release through military pressure, said Abu Obaida, spokesman for Hamas, on the Telegram channel.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has recently taken up a view that touches the fire power of the civilized nations that the country ought to embrace a ceasefire offer championed by the US. First made public by Biden in the last weeks of May 2021, it calls for a 3-phase plan which involves releasing hostages conditioned to withdrawal of Israeli troops.”
Netanyahu’s own position has moved around. Most recently, he’s come down on the side of his right-wing coalition partners, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who say Israel mustn’t stop fighting Hamas even for a day until it is totally, utterly vanquished. Hostages, they say, will be released thereafter.
Former opinion prevalent among the Israeli population, regarding media portrayal, has also changed. A monthly poll regarding the hostage deal or the decimation of Hamas showed July support nestled at 72%, higher than the June’s 67% and May’s 46% measurements.
Reporting on a cease-fire agreement in the Israeli media included the items concerning hostages and, quite unexpectedly, hostages turned out to be those who were dead and buried. This made many bereaved families suffer more pain and in the Sunday protests, there was an assertion that Israel let them down.
“Our Hands Aren’t Clean of Their Blood,” read a front page head in centrist Yedioth Ahronoth on Monday.
Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition partners have some support even from a handful of families of hostages still held in Gaza. Members call themselves Tikva Forum for the unique focus of refusing to come to any settlements with Hamas and issued a call for Israelis to abandon both the protests and the strikes. The US classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization.
The mother of one of those found dead on Sunday told the radio that ‘in exchange for him there would be no willingness to release even one terrorist.’
Micah Goodman, expert and publicist with left-center political views, wrote in Israeli- Hayom that given Hamas’s military has been damaged, the strategic price for engaging in a nasty hostage deal is less than what it was earlier on in the fighting. It is important, he said, to find a way to arrive mutually agreeable terms to in order to heal the country.
“As opposite objectives of waging the war these can be presented into two ethical and Jewish aspirations, annihilating Hamas and reconstructing the State of Israel,” he said.
