The war in Gaza begins to take its toll on the prime minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu. While in the new phase of the military offensive Palestinians continue to die at the same rate as in the previous ones, with almost 200 dead in the last 24 hours, the surveys They put the leader of the Hebrew Government on the ropes. If today they were celebrated elections, he would lose them and his party, the Likud, would cut its seats in half Knessetthe Israeli Parliament, according to the latest opinion poll published by Channel 13. These polls come alongside messages of disappointment from the United States and the United Kingdom after Netanyahu rejected, again, the possibility of a Palestinian State and the growing unrest in Israel over the management of the hostages still in the Strip.
In this context, this Monday, the American portal ‘Axios’ has revealed a proposal that the Netanyahu Government would have made to Hamas, through mediators from Qatar and Egypt, to pause the war for up to two months in exchange for the release of all captives in the hands of the Islamist group that de facto governs the enclave and other Palestinian militias. These measures are part of a multi-phase agreement, according to ‘Axios’, which cites two Israeli officials. Although the proposal does not include an agreement to end the waris the longest ceasefire period Israel has offered Hamas since the start of the war.
In the Hebrew country, the pressure is becoming more and more present in the streets And in the institutions. This weekend there have been different demonstrations, against the war in Gaza and for the release of the hostages, but all of them contrary to Netanyahu’s management of both. Opposition to the Israeli leader has translated into polls that give the minister victory Benny Gantz, from the center-right National Unity party. The current member of the war cabinet would win the elections with 37 seats, more than tripling what it has now. If I were the current Minister of Economy, Nir Barkatwho will present at the head of Likud, would obtain 21 more seats than the all-powerful Bibi. According to the survey, the current coalition of governmentthe most conservative in the history of Israel, led by Netanyahu with his far-right and ultra-Orthodox partners, would not total more than 46 seatsfar below the current 64 and insufficient to govern in a parliament of 120 deputies.
“If it is decided stop the war“I will not be part of this government,” he said. Itamar Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security who was left out of the war cabinet. The person in charge of finances, the settler Bezalel Smotrichhas stated that the Army must “dramatically increase intensity of war,” despite pressure from the United States. “This is the only way we can truly bring the hostages home and maintain our existence here as a sovereign and secure Jewish state,” he added at a meeting of his party, Religious Zionism.
Disappointment of the US and the United Kingdom
But the hostages’ relatives have made clear that they do not believe they are the best candidates to bring their loved ones back. They consider that they have demonstrated this in the last 108 days of war. Some 136 Israelis still held captive in Gaza. Some lost their lives on October 7 or during the Israeli military offensive. This Monday, a group of relatives broke into a parliamentary session with banners and shouts, rebuking them: “You will not stay sitting here while they die there“. During this weekend, they have also escalated actions demanding that the Government increase its efforts to bring their relatives home and, if they are not able to achieve this, they demand their resignation. Some people have camped outside the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem to change his mind after his repeated statements saying that there will be no agreement with Hamas and that the military campaign will continue.
In it United Kingdomthe prime minister’s office, Rishi Sunakhas reiterated British support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after Netanyahu said he would not compromise the “full Israeli security control of all the territory west of the Jordan River.” “It is disappointing to hear this from the Israeli prime minister,” said Sunak’s spokesman, who considers that the two states “is the best route to lasting peace.” On the other side of the Atlantic, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and the North from Africa, Brett McGurk, has embarked on a new trip to the region. This week you will visit Qatar and Egypt in a renewed American effort to stoke negotiations over Israel’s war on Gaza and the release of captives.
“Trapped by the tanks”
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The messages coming from Gaza convey the horror of war. “We are now trapped by the tanks,” a Gazan manages to tell this newspaper from the largest center for internally displaced people from southern Gaza, in Jan Yunis. There, the Israeli Army has increased its offensive, killing dozens of people and attacking hospitals, ambulances and schools where thousands of civilians sought refuge. It wasn’t that long ago that the same soldiers attacking them today sent them there by declaring it a “safe zone.” The 190 Palestinians killed in the last 24 hours bring the total number to 25,292with another 63,000 people injured in an enclave that has been under siege for more than three months.
Furthermore, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has confirmed that the current telecommunications blackout that the enclave is experiencing, which is in its seventh day, is the longest since the start of the war on October 7. “The interruption of telecommunications services prevents people from accessing life-saving informationcall the lifeguards and continue preventing the humanitarian response“, they have reported in X.