Netanyahu says only ‘intense phase’ of Gaza war about to end, but no halt in campaign
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on June 23 ruled out ending Israel’s eight-month-long war in Gaza any time soon, standing in defiance of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2735 (2024).
Since it was adopted on June 10, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, had notified the mediating parties — the United States, Qatar and Egypt — of welcoming the move and stated its readiness to implement the UNSC resolution.
Although the US administration of President Joe Biden kept talking about Israeli acceptance, Israel, however, had so far failed to officially announce that it would carry out the resolution that requires an immediate cease-fire in Gaza Strip, the release of all hostages and no hindrance of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
But in an interview, Netanyahu made it clear that any pause in fighting would not mean an end to the conflict.
“The intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end. It doesn’t mean that the war is about to end, but the war in its intense phase is about to end in Rafah,” he told the Channel 14 network in Israel.
In a response statement, Hamas noted that Netanyahu’s positions are “a clear confirmation of his rejection of the recent Security Council resolution, and the proposals of US President Joe Biden”, according to the Palestinian Information Centre.
The US had pressured Hamas to agree unconditionally to Washington’s proposals for a three-phase Gaza cease-fire, holding Hamas responsible for the delay, rather than making Israel accept the UNSC resolution.
Abdalfatah Asqool, an international law lecturer at the University of Palestine in Gaza, told China Daily: “The US and Israel are playing a dirty game to give Israel further time to continue the genocide in Gaza Strip.”
“If the US really cares about achieving a cease-fire in Gaza, it can proceed with the deal officially agreed by Hamas, not to keep providing deals for gaining time and to show that Hamas is the obstacle to achieve the ceasefire,” said Asqool.
The UNSC Resolution 2735 (2024) specifies three phases for peace, the first of which would include an immediate, full and complete cease-fire with the release of hostages and the return of the remains of some hostages who have been killed, and withdrawal of Israeli forces from the populated areas in Gaza.
Ayman Yousef, a professor of international relations at the Arab American University in Jenin in the West Bank, told China Daily there were questions over the US and Israel’s different views in regard to the cease-fire proposal.
Biden in May announced a proposal for a cease-fire, insisting that Israel had authored the proposal, which led to the UNSC resolution.
“The US failed to impose this cease-fire deal on Israel itself. This administration is weak in terms of putting this proposal more clearly. I blame directly the weak Biden administration,” Yousef said. “The US knows that Israel is the main hindrance or the main obstacle in the way of achieving a cease-fire.”
Furthermore, Yousef said that the US had failed to differentiate between a temporary or permanent cease-fire, with the latter effectively meaning an end to the war.
This confusion had been passed to both Hamas and Israel, he said, and Netanyahu was exploiting the gap between the different definitions of cease-fire.
“I think Netanyahu is still resisting. Netanyahu is not listening to Biden,” Yousef added.
In a series of continuous offensives in Gaza, Israeli tanks advanced to the edge of the tent camp in al-Mawasi “safe zone” near the southern city of Rafah on June 24, Gaza residents told Al Jazeera. Israeli forces also attacked humanitarian aid sites, preventing assistance from reaching Gaza.
Despite Israeli claims that the “intense” phase of its offensive is ending, the Palestinians’ suffering remains unabated amid fast-deteriorating living conditions as the Israeli military continues to launch its attacks.
On June 25, two Israeli airstrikes hit two schools in Gaza City, killing at least 14 people. Gaza residents once considered schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), as places of refuge. But they have now become synonymous with danger after suffering repeated Israeli attacks in the current Israel-Gaza war, according The National, a UAE daily newspaper.
Earlier, on June 21, Israel launched an airstrike near an aid center that was the main headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, killing eight and injuring many, reported media outlet The New Arab.
The aid centre is used to distribute the little humanitarian aid that gets into Gaza. Hundreds of people displaced by the Israeli military’s ground invasion of Gaza were sheltering inside the centre at the time of the strikes.
Israeli authorities are claiming that they were targeting Hamas militants in such incidents. Yet these are not the first time for Israeli forces to attack schools, UN aid facilities and hospitals, causing heavy casualties.
Moreover, Israeli fighter jets continued to strike buildings, observation posts, and additional infrastructure in southern Lebanon’s Kfarchouba, Ayta ash-Shab and Khiam on June 26, saying they are used by Hezbollah, The Times of Israel cited the Israel military, which earlier said offensive plans against Lebanon had been approved.
