According to experts, Hamas is turning to guerrilla tactics. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is far from “total victory”. The news at a glance.
According to experts in the Gaza war, Israel is still far from a victory over the Islamist Hamas. “Hamas is present everywhere in the Gaza Strip,” Joost Hiltermann from the International Crisis Group think tank told the Wall Street Journal.
“Hamas is far from defeated.” The terrorist organization has switched to guerrilla tactics, which is raising fears in Israel that it will end up in a “forever war,” the newspaper reported. Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant had warned the evening before that the lack of an alternative to Hamas rule in Gaza threatened to undermine Israel’s military successes.
The US shared Galant’s concern that Israel had no plans for this, a senior US official told the Times of Israel. This enables the terrorist organization to reposition itself in areas cleared by the army and regain control. That was “worrying,” they said.
Reports of air strikes in northeast Lebanon
Meanwhile, Lebanese media reported heavy Israeli air strikes in the Baalbek area in northeast Lebanon. There was initially no confirmation of this from the Israeli side. According to the Israeli military, the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon had recently fired around 60 projectiles into northern Israel.
The militia itself said it had fired dozens of rockets at the headquarters of the air surveillance unit near Meron. The attack was a response to the “assassination of the Israeli enemy.”
Israel’s army said it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander in an airstrike in southern Lebanon. Baalbek is located about 100 kilometers from the Israeli-Lebanese border and is considered a Hezbollah stronghold. Since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, there have been daily military confrontations between Israel’s army and the Hezbollah militia and other groups in the border area between Israel and Lebanon.
USA: Having difficult talks with Israel
The US government, meanwhile, reiterated its support for the country amid reports of a new billion-dollar arms shipment to Israel. Nevertheless, concerns can be shared with allies, said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, with a view to Israel’s controversial actions in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
“And we have made it very clear that we want to ensure that (Israel) is able to defend itself.” US President Joe Biden had threatened Israel that a major ground offensive in the city, which is overcrowded with internally displaced people, could have consequences for US arms deliveries. Jean-Pierre made it clear that the US assumed that so far it was a limited operation by the Israeli military in Rafah – not a major ground offensive.
Expert: There is no power vacuum in Gaza
Regardless of whether Israel attacks Rafah in full or not, Hamas is likely to survive and continue to exist in other areas of the sealed-off coastal strip, according to current and former Israeli military officials and the US intelligence community, wrote the Wall Street Journal.
Hamas used a so-called “hit and run” tactic in which small groups of fighters would strike from ambush and then quickly disappear into underground tunnels, the newspaper quoted security analysts as saying.
Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip is already producing results, but Hamas is already very decimated militarily, said Defense Minister Galant. “But as long as Hamas maintains control over civilian life in Gaza, it can rebuild and strengthen itself, leaving the Israeli army to come back and fight in areas where it has already been deployed.”
There is no power vacuum in the Gaza Strip, Michael Milshtein, a former head of the Palestinian department of Israeli military intelligence, told the Wall Street Journal. Any place that Israel’s army evacuates will be occupied by Hamas. “At the moment there is no alternative to Hamas,” Milshtein said.
Defense Minister calls for alternative to Hamas rule
Galant yesterday criticized Israel’s indecision over who should rule in Gaza after the war. Palestinian representatives – accompanied by international actors – must take control and thus create a government alternative to Hamas rule, the defense minister recommended. Otherwise, only two negative options remained: continued Hamas rule or Israeli military rule.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the other hand, had previously stated that it was pointless to talk about the future administration of the coastal strip before a victory over Hamas. Until it is clear that Hamas no longer rules militarily in Gaza, no other representative will be willing to take over the civil administration in Gaza – “out of fear for his safety.”
Five Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza incident
According to the military, five Israeli soldiers were killed in an incident in the northern Gaza Strip. The army made the announcement today after lifting a news blackout. Three other soldiers were seriously injured. Israeli media reported that the five soldiers were killed by friendly fire from their own troops. On Wednesday, Israeli tanks fired grenades at a building in the refugee district of Jabalia where the soldiers were staying. They mistook them for armed Palestinians.
US pier anchored on the coast of the Gaza Strip
Meanwhile, the US military completed a temporary port to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip. The pier was anchored on the coast in the morning, the US Central Command said on X and emphasized that US soldiers did not enter the coastal strip. With the support of the United Nations, the first aid deliveries are expected to come ashore via the pier in the next few days and be distributed in the Gaza Strip.
The makeshift port is intended to serve as a hub for the delivery of relief supplies. Until now, there has been no harbor there that is deep enough for larger cargo ships.
What is important today
In connection with Israel’s military offensive in Rafah, the International Court of Justice in The Hague is once again considering an urgent application against Israel. South Africa calls for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from Rafah to prevent genocide against Palestinian civilians.
The situation has deteriorated extremely due to Israel’s attacks and the survival of the people is threatened. The United Nations’ highest court scheduled two days for the hearing. Today South Africa has the say, Israel will respond tomorrow.
So far, Israel has firmly rejected all allegations. The Jewish state invoked its right to self-defense after terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups attacked southern Israel on October 7 last year, killing 1,200 people.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
