‘No cessation of fighting in Gaza’ despite ‘tactical pauses’ announcement • FRANCE 24 English

‘No cessation of fighting in Gaza’ despite ‘tactical pauses’ announcement • FRANCE 24 English

Dr Helia we speak often on this program over the months and sometimes it’s hard to feel like you’re not having the same conversation about Benjamin netanyahu’s position and the pressure that he’s under and at which point it feels like there is some kind of movement towards a ceasefire or towards a significant significant decision how do you see this playing out in the days ahead thank you very much for your invitation um just a couple of points before I answer your question first uh you reporter uh talked about the protest in Israel uh let’s be very clear for your viewers the protests in Israel about getting the hostages back they’re not about anything to do with civilians in Gaza despite the fact that there are tens of thousands of people who are dead um at the hands of the Israeli forces um in terms of protests in Gaza and the West Bank these these territories are under a severe military occupation I don’t expect them to be doing anything except looking for food and trying to avoid bombs or extremist settler activi so really the comparison is very peculiar to me to even he secondly on this Tac tactical pause thing um so let’s be clear there is no sensation of fighting in the southern Gaza Strip and the fighting in Rafa continues also there is no change in the introduction of goods into the Gaza Strip these are not my words these are the words of the IDF spokesperson who said this publicly this morning in print it’s on his Twitter feed um earlier this morning so you know I think this there’s a lot of misinformation and disinformation that’s being given um in different languages you know there’s a message that’s given out in English uh presumably for the sake of people like ourselves uh in the international media and the International Community and another that’s given out in Hebrew uh to Israeli Society um so I and I would rely on the latter more than the former um particularly because and this comes to what you were asking about um the overwhelming effort by Benjamin Netanyahu um to Simply stay in power I mean this has been the case over the past nine months that we haven’t seen strategies put forward that could really be achievable we’ve seen moving goalposts in terms of what the quote unquote aims of this bombardment of Gaza actually are um and uh he’s he’s a master at maneuvering around our expectations uh particularly considering with regards to the United States um but I think that people are just very aware by now um what what it is he’s trying to do he’s trying to ensure that he remains in office um I think the IC uh arrest warrants that may come through pretty soon um are very concerning to him I think that the icj case on genocide is extremely concerning to him in terms of making not only Israel a state Pariah in the International Community but him personally well two thoughts there first I I mean the reporter iris is not with us I think the point she was making is you do see these obviously sizable protests he’s covered them in Tel Aviv specifically as you talk about for the hostages also for the release of them immediately and many calling for the fall of the Netanyahu government the situation clearly not just security people trying to survive in Gaza but also the difficulties that would face to try to do that particularly in the West Bank from Israeli Security Forces I think that’s what she was trying to say the second issue on this tactical pause Dr Helo tell me about that there’s been some I think you hit upon it there there’s been a message to it seems Israeli media there’s separate messages to to us to the BBC or to CNN it appears that way in in since we’ve had a clarification to say some of the South there would still be operations what what’s your understanding of how this would work and potentially how successful this could could be in getting more Aid in I mean I be frank with you it dist strikes me completely as a PR exercise by the Israelis to try to get some of the Heat off of Israel in the International Community there’s been this Push by the overwhelming majority of the International Community to get a ceasefire precisely so that humanitarian Aid can surge into Gaza and give some sort of relief to the people of Gaza um and uh we we have to keep in mind there are eight land border crossings into Gaza um all of which with the exception of one were completely under the control of the Israelis up and until a few weeks ago and a few weeks ago the last remaining one which was RA with Egypt was then completely taken over it was under partial control by the Israelis up until that point none of the other border crossings that have been closed for years okay um have been the subject of discussion thus far they’ve opened up in certain uh for certain border crossings over the past nine months but the ones that have been close since 2010 2011 you know these ones remain close and we’re not getting the the amount of Aid into the territory that is really quite necessary instead we have these incredible schemes like the floating Pier that the United States built um at the cost of more than $300 million but you know even that was something that failed utterly they’ve actually had to move that quote unquote moving Pier to ashalon because it cannot survive an operation off the coast of Gaza so this tactical pause I think is really part of just this broader picture where the Israelis are trying to avoid International pressure or trying to lessen it as but as they go about existing operations on the ground and the existing operations on the ground are tens of thousands of people dead with more with more every single day um with the strengthening of the far right within Israel’s cabinet that constantly talks about resettling Gaza with the absence of Palestinian governance so I I think that there’s a lot of Mis direction that is going on here and it behooves us to really dig deep to see what’s actually happening on the ground

Hostilities continue in southern Gaza despite the Israeli military’s announcement on Sunday of tactical pauses in operations to allow humanitarian aid deliveries for desperate Palestinians enduring a humanitarian crisis sparked by the war, now in its ninth month. “Let’s be clear, there is no cessation of fighting in the Gaza strip,” says Dr H.A. Hellyer, Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), speaking to FRANCE 24’s Gavin Lee.
#Gaza #Israel #fighting

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