As the presence of Israeli troops increases in the Gaza Strip with face-to-face confrontations with members of the armed wing of the fundamentalist group Hamas, the northern front is heating up even more, and this Sunday several bursts of projectiles were fired for the first time from Lebanon against the cities of Kiriat, Shmona and Nahariya in northern Israel. Despite the gradual lifting of the telephone and Internet blackout and the increasing influx of humanitarian aid trucks, Gaza is going through one of its worst moments in decades and is desperately calling for a ceasefire after 23 very hard days.
The total war against Hamas is accompanied in Israel by the internal battle over responsibility for the colossal failure that allowed the worst terrorist attack in its history. 7-O marks the past, present and future of Benjamin Netanyahu, who is experiencing his lowest hours as prime minister.
The Israeli army limits itself to revealing that more forces have entered the Palestinian enclave and disseminating images of tanks on the Gaza coast without giving the exact location or number of its soldiers, tanks and armored cars. The size is smaller than in a large-scale ground offensive, but larger than the words “expansion of ground actions” might suggest. For the moment, Israel prefers ground attacks in and from the northern Strip targeting Gaza City to a full-fledged invasion. A formula advised by the US and forced by the situation of the kidnapped people and the possibility of Hezbollah intervening. That is, gradual and slow advances supported by intense fire from above.
Dozens of militiamen were killed and two Israeli soldiers were wounded in various clashes in the coastal area of Gaza or at the exit of one of the numerous tunnels dug by Hamas precisely to thwart the advances of its hated enemy. Israel increased its military pressure on Gaza with the aim of encircling it in the coming days. For this reason, it has intensified its requests and warnings, increasingly urgent, so that residents and health centers are evacuated from a city that could become a scene of war.
The Palestinian Red Crescent denounced the “threats” of the Israeli army to immediately evacuate the Al Quds Hospital in Tal Hawa (southern Gaza), indicating that the surrounding area was “deliberately” bombed as a form of pressure. The big question is what will happen to Al Shifa Hospital. On the one hand, it is the one that treats most of the wounded and concentrates Gazans seeking refuge from the incessant bombings. On the other hand, its underground area is, according to Israel, the command center and hiding place of the Ezzedin Al Qassam Brigades.
The UN World Food Program (WFP) reported this Sunday the looting of aid supplies. “Thousands (of Gazans) broke into some warehouses and took wheat flour and other basic survival items,” he said. According to one of its officials in the region, Samer Abdeljaber, “it is a sign that people are losing hope and are increasingly desperate. They are hungry, isolated and have been suffering violence and immense anguish for three weeks.”
Unlike other occasions, the military offensive is not challenged by the internal clock (general consensus on the destruction of Hamas as a militia and regime) and diplomatic (support from President Joe Biden, who this Sunday spoke again with Netanyahu to show his support but reminded him of the priority of “protecting civilians” and increasing humanitarian aid). The only clock now ticking in Israel’s military plans are the families of the 239 kidnapped in Gaza. Popular pressure to put his release before beheading Hamas has increased with the start of the second phase of the war, which the Government ordered after becoming convinced that Hamas was not seeking an immediate exchange but rather “wasting time to delay the ground offensive.”
Added to the campaign against the Hamas tunnels was an underground war in Israel for responsibility for the greatest defensive failure in its history. On the social network “It was an assessment delivered over and over again to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet by the security and Intelligence agencies, including on the eve of the war,” he wrote in a message that caused a huge stir.
Many, also on the right, criticized his attempt at accountability and targeting officers in the middle of the war. The anger in the security agencies was notable, but they preferred to remain silent, claiming that “the most important thing now is to put an end to the terrorists.” As requested, for example, by the centrist leader and number three in the cabinet, Benny Gantz, Netanyahu deleted the message and even intoned an unprecedented mea culpa: “I was wrong. I said things following the press conference that should not have been said and for that I apologize. I give full support to the heads of the security agencies. I support the chief of the General Staff and all the officers and soldiers who are on the front lines fighting to defend our home. Together we will win.”
Hamas, hard hit by the bombs although not as hard as the inhabitants of Gaza who have suffered a daily hell since October 7 with more than 8,000 dead according to the Islamist Government, intervened in the controversy by pointing out that Netanyahu’s decision to write and delete The message “reveals once again the division and confusion that affects your Government.”
Under the background of the controversy is frustration and anger over Black Saturday and fear of the day after the war in which the Israelis will demand accountability. “Now is not the time to look for culprits but to put an end to Hamas. When the war is over it will be investigated exhaustively with questions for everyone, including me,” promised Netanyahu, who a few months ago received the alert from Military Intelligence (” “Enemies detect a historical point of weakness”) in reference to the unprecedented internal crisis surrounding the ultra-conservative Government’s controversial judicial reform plan.
Hamas took advantage of this point of weakness. In the interviews they give from Qatar, Iran or Lebanon, the leaders of the fundamentalist group face a contradiction: they praise the “success” of 7-O and deny the massacres of civilians even though they were documented, in part, by the authors. Hamas leader Khaled Meshal went a step further. In an interview on Egyptian television he revealed: “The Russians told us that what happened on 7-O will be taught in military schools.” Likewise, he believed that China and, above all, Russia have benefited from the war between Israel and Hamas, which today enters its fourth week.