As humanitarian needs increase and much of the world hopes for a ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that he will further intensify the offensive in the Gaza Strip. The prime minister, who was himself in Gaza to visit the Israeli army, said in a speech in the Knesset that “military pressure” is necessary to free the prisoners held by Hamas.
On Saturday, Hamas reported that five Israeli hostages had been killed in an Israeli bombing. The Israeli army later confirmed that it had recovered five bodies of hostages found in a tunnel. According to the army, Hamas is still holding 129 people in Gaza who were taken hostage by the terrorist group from Israel on October 7.
Netanyahu’s announcement comes at a time when there was some diplomatic hope about a possible end, temporary or otherwise, to the Gaza war. On Friday, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling for “the creation of conditions for a lasting cessation of hostilities” in the Gaza Strip.
Egyptian peace proposal
An Egyptian peace proposal has also been on the table since Monday. Under this proposal, both the Israeli army and Hamas would withdraw from the Gaza Strip, all Israeli and an unknown number of Palestinian prisoners would be released, and a technocratic Palestinian government would be temporarily installed in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s statements make it clear that the Israeli government does not want to cooperate with the Egyptian proposal. In an op-ed The Wall Street Journal the prime minister imposed three conditions on Monday for peace in Gaza: “Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza demilitarized and Palestinian society deradicalized.” Before demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu first wants a “temporary security zone”, with strict border controls between Egypt and Gaza. In this way he wants to prevent weapons from being smuggled into the area.
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Human chessboard
Meanwhile, the emergency situation for civilians in Gaza continues to worsen. In the Maghazi refugee camp, in the center of the strip, at least 106 Palestinians were killed in one of the deadliest Israeli bombings since the start of the war. Many others are still buried under the rubble. The Gazan Ministry of Health speaks of a “massacre in a densely populated area.” In response, the Israeli military said it was investigating the attack.
On Tuesday, Gemma Connell, a United Nations humanitarian team leader, said there is little room left for Palestinians who have followed Israeli evacuation orders. “It really feels like people are being moved across a human chessboard.” An Israeli army spokesman said in response to Connell’s statements that Israel had attempted to evacuate civilians from combat areas, but that Hamas is systematically trying to prevent that.
UNICEF warns that at least 10,000 children under the age of five in Gaza will suffer from “the most life-threatening form of malnutrition” in the coming weeks. And according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, the Israeli army continues to commit violations against aid workers. For example, medics from the organization are allegedly attacked and shot at while trying to evacuate the dead and wounded.
With the collaboration of Naïm Derbali, Majda Ouhajji and Tjarda van der Spek