Gaza ceasefire agreed in both sides interest
ISRAEL AND Hamas both boasted this week of having forced the other side to accept the latest ceasefire in Gaza. The truth is that neither have any real interest in escalation.
The last round of sporadic firing of rocketsfromGazaandthewaveof incendiary devices tied to balloons floating over the border were met with the routine Israeli airstrikes in retaliation, but persisted for longer than usual.
Two weeks ago, Egyptian intelligence officers visited Gaza in an attempt to broker a ceasefire but Hamas rejected the proposed terms. It took a visit by the Qatari emissary, Mohammed al Emadi, who promised to double the cash transfers to Gaza to 17 million dollars a month and add new infrastructure projects, to close the deal.
The IDF Spokesperson Unit said on Tuesday that it had carried out over a hundred air strikes over nineteen days, destroying Hamas military targets and causing the movement “a significant blow”. A Hamas spokesperson countered that it has “achieved new measures to ease the siege, contrary to Israel’s desire.”
”Hamas’s actions are guided by Yihya Sinwar’s political interests,” said an Israeli intelligence analyst, referring to the Hamas leader in Gaza. The announcement of the ceasefire came directly from Mr Sinwar’s office, bypassing Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who himself is based in Qatar. “Sinwar is solidifying his leadership and dominating the relationship with Qatar, which is now the only patron Hamas still has in the Arab world. Haniyeh is more focused now on the relationship with the Erdogan government in Turkey.” An outbreak of Covid-19 in Gaza in recent days also influenced Mr Sinwar’s calculations.
On Tuesday morning, following Hamas’ announcement that it had accepted the ceasefire, Israel re-opened the border to fuel trucks for Gaza’s power station and entered talks with the Qatari diplomat on constructing a new gas pipeline. Senior Israeli officers claimed that the airstrikes and sanctions on fuel had forced Hamas’s hand but there were Israelis who saw acquiescence with the terms of the ceasefire as weakness.
“‘Peace’ in return for protection money,” tweeted former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman. “The deal with Hamas is a historic day which Netanyahu has been working on for years,” he wrote, mocking Netanyahu’s enthusiastic messages about the recent deal with the United Arab Emirates. “Years of blackmail. Years of paying protection to Hamas. Years of armament against Israel and years of forgetting our MIAs.”
Hamas’ actions are guided by Sinwar’s interests’