Israeli PM Netanyahu seeks to expand Gaza operations • FRANCE 24 English

Israeli PM Netanyahu seeks to expand Gaza operations • FRANCE 24 English

Well, that as the Israeli prime minister is deciding on Israel’s next steps in the war in Gaza as pressure piles on him to end the war. Well, our international affairs commentator Doug Herbert is with me. Um Doug, uh we’re expecting a security cabinet meeting probably later today. Some Israeli officials are suggesting at this point that more force is needed in Gaza still. Yeah. Now, if you haven’t been following the story day by day, there’s a little bit of an element of whiplash here. Um you might be saying, “What’s going on here?” In other words, despite this overwhelming mounting international condemnation of uh reports of famine or verge of famine in Gaza, reports that Israel Benjamin Netanyahu denies saying there’s absolutely no starvation despite the continued hard Israeli bombardments day after day of Gaza, despite the fact that we continue to get reports from the ground of people dying as they try to line up to seek aid at the Israeli backed, US backed uh distribution centers there. Despite all of this right now, the direction in which Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be going is poised to go is not ending the war as a plan proposed by the United States, Steve Whitoff, Trump’s envoy, um is suggesting, that is bringing an end to the a ceasefire that would lead to negotiations on a long-asting settlement. You are having just the opposite. You are having Benjamin Netanyahu in quote more war mode, meaning he is going before or he’s expected to make the case before a security cabinet for not just pressing on with the military operation, but perhaps going further and seizing the entire territory of Gaza, seizing the territory of the enclave, which would be in line with the parallel developments in the West Bank, where we’ve seen more and more home demolitions, raids of refugee camps, um a lot of settler violence, uh reports of settler violence against uh Palestinians often in remote villages with the goal uh there’d been a symbolic vote um in the Israeli parliament of seizing that territory, annexing it as it would be um eventually. So seemingly a broader strategy here. Um what’s interesting is that in parallel with the these reports that Netanyahu is weighing seriously weighing more war pressing forward more aggressively with this military operation you have equal reports of Israeli military officials basically telling the prime minister warning him saying that this operation so-called Gideon’s chariots operation Steuart has run its course there are no more strategic military objectives to be achieved here that Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal of defeating ing Hamas, vanquishing it entirely militarily. It is an elusive goal and it’s just a recipe right now for more war if he presses on. They’re basically saying we need to find a way to wind this down. These are the Israeli military. The IDF officials basically warning him. So, it’s an interesting situation here. Interesting in in a sort of grim way for a lot of observers of the region. uh saying that just when they should be looking for an exit ramp uh he seems to be hunkering down on what has been a strategy all along which is complete annihilation complete defeat of a Hamas something which has not happened in 22 months of war and which is really military officials say doesn’t seem to be a realistic objective to be pressing for right now get the hostages released instead that takes a diplomatic solution Doug thanks very much Doug Herbert international affairs commentator here on force Before.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday vowed to update the country’s Gaza war strategy amid intensifying pressure to secure the release of remaining hostages and growing international concern over humanitarian crisis in the enclave after nearly 22 months of conflict. International Affairs commentator Douglas Herbert explains.
#Netanyahu #Israel #GazaStrip

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