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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210518-netanyahu-is-losing-hope-for-a-victorious-end-to-his-gaza-offensive/">middleeastmonitor.com</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Netanyahu is losing hope for a victorious end to his Gaza offensive</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Motasem A Dalloul - May 18, 2021</div></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div id="gmail-post-content"> <p>The
Israeli occupation army — the so-called Israel Defence Forces (IDF) —
has been bombarding the besieged Gaza Strip in an attempt to destroy the
infrastructure of the Palestinian resistance movements which responded
to the brutal Israeli aggression against the Palestinian worshippers in
Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque, and the proposed dispossession of
Palestinian families from Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. The
resistance groups warned Israel about its violations in Jerusalem, but
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government ignored them.
Instead, the right-wing Israeli leader believed that he had found the
opportunity to portray himself yet again as the saviour of his country
from the resistance "terrorists" in Gaza, and thus boost his chance of
staying on as prime minister.</p> <p>Netanyahu consulted his warmonger
of a Defence Minister, Benny Gantz, who as Chief of Staff of the army in
2014 bragged about returning Gaza "to the Stone Age". The result of
their discussion was another military offensive against the largely
civilian population in the Gaza Strip. Hence, as soon as the Palestinian
resistance fired seven rockets towards Jerusalem in an effort to stop
Israel's violence against Jerusalemites and Al Aqsa Mosque, Netanyahu
gave the go-ahead for the offensive on 10 May.</p> <div id="gmail-attachment_468090" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><img src="https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG_2519-scaled.jpg?fit=933%2C579&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1" alt="Al-Aqsa will remain in the Palestinians' hearts - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="476" height="296"></p><p class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Al-Aqsa will remain in the Palestinians' hearts – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]</p></div><p>"I
said that we would strike Hamas and the other terrorist organisations
very hard, and we are doing just that," he said arrogantly. The
operation, he noted, targeted the tunnel network built by Hamas,
referred to by Israel as "the Metro". A day later, Netanyahu bragged
about the achievements of the Israeli army. "In the last 24 hours, we
have attacked underground targets," he said. "Hamas thought that it
could hide there but it cannot hide there."</p> <p>He depended on the
strategic plan prepared by the Israeli army to turn the tunnels into
death traps. Instead, the offensive started by killing a number of
children, to which Netanyahu paid no attention. When he was asked by a
journalist for a comment, he avoided a direct answer. Israel, he
insisted, will not tolerate having "terrorist" groups firing rockets at
it. "Israel has responded forcefully to these attacks and will continue
to respond forcefully."</p> <p>Israeli journalist Amos Harel covers military and security issues for <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-israeli-army-deployed-a-secret-strategic-weapon-and-reaped-limited-benefits-1.9812033" target="_blank"><i>Haaretz</i></a>.
"In recent years," he wrote, "the IDF has identified a trend – that
Hamas will move its activists into the many kilometres of tunnels under
Gaza in times of emergency – and has developed a plan for turning the
tunnels into a death trap for Hamas combatants in the event that another
high-intensity round of fighting broke out. It appears that military
intelligence managed to crack open Hamas's secret and systematically map
the network of tunnels and underground headquarters which were built at
great cost."</p> <p>The
IDF even misguided the media intentionally regarding a ground operation
as part of the plan to destroy the tunnel network. The intention,
according to several Israeli military experts, was to tempt the
Palestinian resistance fighters to enter the tunnels, and then attack
them. This is not how it played out, though. Instead, a large number of
civilian structures and homes were destroyed, killing dozens of
non-combatants, mainly women and children.</p> <p>Whenever he was asked
about a ceasefire, Netanyahu said that time was still needed to complete
the mission. When asked how much time, he replied: "This will take
time. There's pressure [for a ceasefire] but we are getting considerable
support, first and foremost from the US."</p> <p>The Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Aviv Kochavi, also <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/southern-communities-pounded-by-gaza-rockets-pm-fighting-will-take-more-time/" target="_blank">bragged about the "achievements</a>"
of the tunnel operation. "Hamas made a serious mistake and did not
assess us correctly," he claimed, pointing out the damage that the army
has inflicted on the movement's capabilities, particularly its
underground infrastructure. Kochavi said that his troops had "heavily
damaged Hamas's flagship project. Hamas's missile production
capabilities have also been badly hit."</p> <p>In this respect, the
chief of staff was lying. His army spokespersons are doing the same:
they're telling lies. Since Saturday night, the Israelis have pounded a
certain area in Gaza with an air, sea and ground barrage of missiles
destroying homes, damaging civilian infrastructure and killing innocent
people, while claiming that they were targeting "terrorists" and rocket
launchers.</p> <div id="gmail-attachment_470983" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><img src="https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IMG_2740.jpg?fit=933%2C659&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1" alt="Death toll in Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip keeps rising...- Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="476" height="337"></p><p class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Death toll in Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip keeps rising…- Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]</p></div><p>Over
the past three nights, dozens of Palestinian families have been
partially or completely slaughtered. Their names deserve to be
remembered: Al Tanani, Al Hadidi, Abu Hatab and Abul Ouf among others.
Around 60 children, 30 women and two prominent doctors have been killed
by the Israeli bombardment. They were not terrorists by any stretch of
the imagination. The Israeli army could only produce a number of blurred
satellite images to "prove" the military nature of the targets which
had been destroyed. Moreover, the army has not been able to name any of
the "senior resistance figures" that it claims to have killed.</p> <p>Several
resistance leaders and members have been killed, and some of the
resistance infrastructures have been destroyed, but not to the extent
promised by Netanyahu. "Despite Israel's impressive destruction of Hamas
tunnels over the weekend, it refuses to specify how many Hamas
activists were killed," said Amos Harel. "The army was only able to reap
limited benefit."</p> <p>According to Israeli journalist Shimrit Meir,
"We are paying a high price for what is happening in Gaza. Damage to the
home front, economy, politics and to Israel's image. These things need
years to be repaired and some of them are unrepairable at all."</p> <p><i>Al-Hodhod</i>
also reported Israeli journalist and political advisor Eldad Yaniv as
saying: "Netanyahu is confused and he does not know how to end the
operation in order to save himself and save his position. So far, there
has not been any deterrence for the rockets which did not stop. The
airport is closed and the 'clever' Kochavi is telling us 'we still in
the beginning'."</p> <p>The <i>Times of Israel</i> reported that "some
Israeli officials" admitted that the rate of the rocket fire "was
unexpected" and noted that, "In closed-door meetings, the issue of
flawed intelligence on Hamas's long-range rockets was also raised."</p> <p>Meir
pointed out that the ongoing battle is "unusual" because of the clashes
between Arabs and Jews in Israel, the potential uprising in the
occupied West Bank and possible provocations from Hezbollah in Lebanon,
Israel's northern neighbour.</p> <p>One Israeli journalist proposed an
escape route for Netanyahu, recalling what the US Senator George Aiken
advised the then-President Lyndon Johnson to do when he did not know how
to end the war in Vietnam: "Say we won and get out."</p> <p>I think
this will work with Netanyahu better than any other options because the
Palestinian resistance groups insist that he must meet their demands,
especially those related to the provocative settler incursions at Al
Aqsa Mosque and the dispossession of the Palestinian families in Sheikh
Jarrah. He is losing hope for a clear-cut victorious end to his Gaza
offensive, so he should learn from history and follow Aiken's advice.</p> <p>The
views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.</p>
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