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Global pressure failed to affect Israel’s strategy in Gaza
Israel’s push into Gaza City marks a dangerous escalation, which will inevitably cause more death and destruction, analyst Adel Abdel Ghafar says.
“This is all part and parcel of the punishment of the Palestinian people,” Ghafar, a senior fellow and director of the foreign policy programme at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera.
He noted that despite “massive protests” and growing opposition to Israeli actions around the world, the global pressure has not affected the Israeli government’s strategy.
“The Netanyahu government really wants to push the Gazans out of Gaza,” he added.
On the timing of Israel’s military moves alongside lingering ceasefire talks, Ghafar said the Israeli government wants to keep discussions going, “because it also has a domestic constituency that wants the hostages released”.
“But the right-wing of the government wants to also forge ahead with this takeover of Gaza, not just Gaza City.”
Words are useless at this point, actions are needed.
Planned Israeli operation in Gaza City could mean ‘wholesale occupation’
Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands says Israel’s current operations in and around Gaza City are preparing the way for a near-wholesale occupation of the Gaza Strip.
“We understand from an Israeli military spokesperson that two Israeli military brigades – the Nihal and the Givati Brigade – are already operating in a couple of parts of Gaza City or the surrounding area, including Zeitoun and Jabalia,” he said.
“This is essentially a shaping operation to lay the groundwork for the much bigger operation to come,” he added. To carry out the operation, the military aims to call up at least 50,000 reservists in three tranches – beginning in September and ending next year, said Challands.
“So, we can see that this is an operation that the military plans to take quite some time. Israel has already occupied around 75 percent of Gaza,” he added. “If they are successful in taking Gaza City, that would essentially move them towards a pretty much wholesale occupation of the whole Strip.”
Gaza City seizure ‘inherently a political operation’
Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands says Netanyahu’s planned Gaza City seizure is a political move that carries major risks for Israel and him personally.
“This is inherently a political military operation,” Challands said. “It was demanded by PM Netanyahu. His generals didn’t really want it. They pushed back, saying it was a trap for the military, that the military was tired after nearly two years of fighting, and wasn’t ready for it. But Netanyahu wanted it.”
Before even seeing the detailed plan for the operation, Netanyahu has already said he wants timelines expedited, showing that “politics is an absolutely huge part of what is going on here”, Challands added.
“That carries huge risks for Israel, for Netanyahu. One is that this operation will fail because the army is not ready for it, and the reservists won’t turn up or they’ll turn up late, and it just doesn’t have the capability to pursue this operation,” he said.
“But then Israeli public opinion is swinging against the war. We understand that a majority of Israelis now want the war to finish."
