Washington can unlock Gaza dilemma
The Israeli army’s withdrawal from the south of Gaza on the weekend raised hopes that there might have been a breakthrough in talks. But such hopes have proved premature as the withdrawal only means the conflict has come to a new stage rather than an end, as Tel Aviv has stressed. “The war in Gaza continues and we are far from stopping,” Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi told the media on Sunday, which marked six months since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct 7 that triggered the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also vowed on Sunday that Israel would achieve “complete victory” over Hamas, calling for unity among Israel’s citizens claiming that “we are a step away from victory”. As he noted in a Sunday statement, his government’s goals have not changed, and they remain the return of all the Israeli hostages seized in the attacks, the complete elimination of Hamas throughout the whole of the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, and “to ensure Gaza will no longer constitute a threat to Israel”.
That means the withdrawal of the IDF is only a sop to the mounting foreign and domestic pressure on Tel Aviv while negotiations are ongoing between Israel and Hamas on the release of the hostages. In particular, Israel’s initiative to pull its troops from southern Gaza can be regarded as a gesture to appease the United States, Israel’s closest ally, after the latter condemned Israel’s bombing of charity organizations in Gaza on April 1. Israel’s apparently car-by-car air strike on a motorcade of the World Central Kitchen resulted in the deaths of seven aid workers, which prompted multiple charities to suspend food deliveries to Palestinians on the brink of starvation, and also threatened to set back efforts by other countries to open a maritime corridor for aid from Cyprus to help ease the desperate conditions in northern Gaza.
On the same day, an Israeli air strike destroyed the Iranian consulate annex building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, killing 16 people, including several senior officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. These, along with its previous bombings of targets in Lebanon, with Israel claiming there were key figures in connection with Hezbollah, demonstrate that Tel Aviv does not care about how far its “defensive campaign” spreads.
All these attacks happened after the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2728, demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza for the month of Ramadan, indicating that as long as the US continues to provide military and financial support to Israel, Tel Aviv will press ahead with its military campaign.
With the conflict having come this far, the continued support of the US will only consolidate the Netanyahu government’s determination to pursue its planned offensive against Rafah. Tel Aviv has de facto cornered itself into a dilemma as neither ending the military actions in Gaza nor continuing them is really a viable choice.
Domestic hard-liners, represented by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir warned Netanyahu if he decides to end the war on Gaza without an extensive attack on Rafah, “he will not have a mandate to continue serving as prime minister”. While attacking Rafah will bring further condemnation from the international community, which is already horrified by Israel’s disregard for civilian lives.
It is the US’ aid that has actually put the Netanyahu government in this position. Washington has pushed Israel to the front to accomplish the US’ agenda in the Middle East that actually targets the influence of Iran and Russia in the region. As such, as long as the US provides support of substance for Israel’s actions in Gaza, its condemnation of the attacks on charity organizations, its efforts to air-drop food to the starving Palestinian civilians and its we-care performances in the UN are all just contemptuous virtue signaling.