The Gaza truce collapses as expected. The Israeli operation "Strength and Sword" is launched, in the wake of the accusations made by Prime Minister Netanyahu against Hamas, guilty of having “repeatedly refused to release the hostages and rejected the proposals received from the US envoy, Steve Vitkoff”.
The attacks, from the Israeli perspective, were part of preventive operations aimed at “neutralize the readiness to launch terrorist attacks, the buildup of forces and the rearmament of Hamas”According to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) the air strikes hit “mid-ranking military commanders, leadership officials and terrorist infrastructure”.
In light of the situation, the UN intervention seems, once again, to be of little impact, also reviewing the scenes of the partial liberation of the Israeli hostages. The international theater is further animated and if Turkey on the one hand condemns Israel again, on the other Tel Aviv underlines the possibility that Hamas was ready to attack again, in a revival of October 7, 2023, therefore liable to a preventive action that, now more than ever, places the other hostages alive, facing an uncertain fate. But it is the entire area that is upset, just look at Yemen, the object of much more determined attacks while the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels announce escalation in the Red Sea; at Jordan, increasingly under pressure; at the more than unstable Syria, torn by internal conflicts and violent border frictions with Hezbollah from Lebanon.
It is therefore clear that the three-phase agreement, promoted by Trump, rested on fragile foundations, unable to guarantee the passage to useful subsequent phases.
Apparently, there are still 59 hostages being held by Hamas militants, including 22, probably, still aliveA Hamas source said that the movement “is working to curb Israel's aggression".
Resuming operations, Netanyahu threatened Hamas with attacks of unprecedented violence if it did not release all the kidnapped, seconding the approval of the far-right Itamar Ben-Gvir. The White House confirmed that it had been warned, while the command of the raids was entrusted to the new IDF chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, and the politically precarious director of the Shin Bet (intelligence agency that deals with internal security), Ronen Bar. Tsahal has clarified that the operations, in addition to the air strikes, will continue "as long as necessary".
There is no doubt that the resumption of fighting, in addition to the liberation of hostages, aims to destroy Hamas as a political and military force. It is impossible not to remember the recently dismissed Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi who, in a rare surge of dignity, taking responsibility for his failure to defend the Israeli population, preferred to resign, also in light of the uneasy relations with the Prime Minister, based on the lack of a post-war strategy.
General Eyal Zamir is of a different nature, author of an aggressive strategy aimed at countering the Iranian regime, and fighting on seven foreign fronts and one internal one, characterised by the rejection of political pressure which materialised in the attribution of heavy responsibilities to the FA and Intelligence for the debacle of 2023.
Photo: IDF
