Abbas stresses to Borrell the need for European pressure on Israel to accelerate the delivery of aid to Gaza

While Israeli and American figures began to warn against arrogant positions that only call for war on the grounds of “if force fails, then more force,” ministers and representatives on the extreme right came out with hysterical statements calling for burning Gaza to the ground and stopping the ongoing negotiations with Hamas regarding an exchange deal. Prisoners. A group of representatives from the ruling right-wing camp also took the initiative to demand a law imposing the death penalty on Palestinians who are convicted of terrorism in the courts “until the phenomenon of prisoners and exchange deals disappears.”

These statements came in light of the spread of news about Israel’s approval of the American request to bring 60,000 liters of fuel to international institutions working in Gaza Strip relief. Although the Gaza Strip’s need for fuel reaches one million liters per day under normal circumstances, and that this fuel will only be used for urgent emergency purposes, especially hospitals, Israeli officials considered the move “a submission to Hamas… and an insult to Israel’s army, government and people.”

Negotiations with Hamas

In a post on the “X” platform (formerly Twitter), Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who holds the position of second minister in the Ministry of Defense, attacked the government for even holding negotiations with “Hamas,” saying: “After 41 days, Yahya Sinwar (the head of Hamas) is still… In Gaza) we are able to conduct negotiations and determine the conditions for the release of the hostages, which means that we are not in the right direction; It is time for the war cabinet to start spreading force, cutting off communications, and proving with actions to this Nazi, and from now on only we set the conditions.”

Smotrich continued: “We must prove to him above all that we are determined to destroy him and his organization completely.” We should have refused a long time ago to negotiate and talk to him except with iron and fire, until he ran after us and begged to make a deal with us. This is the only way to return all the kidnapped people and restore security to the State of Israel. Therefore, we will not stop until we win.”

Put the finger in the eye

Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said that the decision to bring fuel into Gaza is like putting a finger in the eye: painful, wrong, and dangerous. Likud Party MP Nissim Faturi said, “Israel’s preoccupation with deals with Hamas, and with the interruption of the Internet or the introduction of fuel, indicates that we have not learned anything. We are too humanitarian. Gaza should be burned with fuel, not fuel brought into it. Our policy must be no water and no fuel until they release our prisoners.”

Avigdor Lieberman, head of the opposition “Israel Our Home” party, said that he did not want to engage in a discussion with Netanyahu, but rather remind him of what he said only 10 days ago, when he declared that “not a single liter of fuel will enter without the release of the kidnapped Israelis.” The Israeli army had announced that it had almost completely completed the first phase of the ground war against Hamas, and was now heading to the second phase, saying: “If we are allowed to continue, we have the will, readiness and capabilities to continue the war until we achieve its goal of destroying the capabilities of (Hamas).” .

Assassination of leaders

Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said that his forces had achieved new gains, as he revealed that Hamas had used “Al-Shifa” as a headquarters for its operations and a hideout for some hostages, and had kidnapped the bodies of two Israeli hostages from the hospital. He said that his forces had dealt a severe blow to senior second-rate Hamas leaders, They are Ahmed Ghandour, Rawhi Mushtaha, Samer Abu Siraj, Issam Dalis, and Ayman Siyam, “whom we are checking to see if they died as a result of our operations.” On Friday, it was announced that Ahmed Bahr, head of the Palestinian Legislative Council for the Hamas movement, had been assassinated.

In his speech, the expression “If we were given the opportunity…” caught attention, as observers saw this as an indication that Israel was beginning to be subjected to pressure to stop the war. The Israeli newspapers Yedioth Ahronoth and Haaretz linked this statement to the visit of the commander of the US Central Command, General Michael Eric Corella, to Tel Aviv on Friday, to hold talks with Israeli officials about the war on the Gaza Strip and the ongoing escalation in the border areas with Lebanon, as well as Escalation in the West Bank.

An American warning against the expansion of the war

The Walla website said, on Thursday evening, quoting two high-ranking Israeli officials, “This is the second visit by the high-ranking American general to Israel since the beginning of the war on Gaza. It comes against the backdrop of the efforts made by the administration of US President Joe Biden to deter Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah, and prevent the war on Gaza from turning into a regional war. He pointed to “the American administration’s concerns that the continuation of operations in Gaza and the Israeli army’s operations in Lebanon, which have escalated in the last two weeks, will lead to a major escalation against (Hezbollah) and the opening of a second front” against Israel.

Collapse of all hypotheses

For his part, Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister, warned against the government’s policy that “turns its back on its biggest ally, the United States, and bangs its head against the wall.” He said that last October 7 will be written in Israeli history not only as the most dangerous shortcoming in the state’s history, but also as the collapse of many of the assumptions made by Netanyahu, such as the assumption that “Hamas is an asset, and the Authority is a burden.” The assumption that he found the way to peace with the Arab world also collapsed, in light of the neglect of the Palestinians. The assumption that the United States could be underestimated and deceived, as Netanyahu did with Obama and Biden, also collapsed. The hypothesis of the “Security Master” who has been talking for 15 years about overthrowing the Hamas movement has collapsed. In return for all these collapses, Netanyahu found himself directing $1.5 billion to Hamas, and now he is faced with the most horrific results. Finally, the hypothesis of the leader being from “another rank” collapsed. The man was wrong in his assessment of Sinwar, Putin, Obama, and Trump, and now he is wrong about Biden.

Therefore, Barak calls for an end to Netanyahu’s rule, and to search for another way that will emerge with new, sane and strong leadership that will deter Hamas and others like it on the one hand, but on the other hand will open the way to comprehensive peace in the region, with the entire Arab world without ignoring the Palestinian issue, according to the two-state solution. .