Novaya Gazeta: Permanent truce is Hamas’ policy to declare victory

An Israeli military analyst predicts that the remainder of the temporary ceasefire will be Gaza StripIt is likely to last longer than 4 days, which is disturbing but in the interests of the Islamic resistance (agitation).

Veteran war correspondent and military analyst Ron Ben-Ishai claimed that Hamas aims to harm Israelis and foment divisions among them, but added that this is not its main goal.

Hamas first seeks to extend the ceasefire for as long as possible until it becomes permanent, he explained in an article published on the website of Israeli newspaper Al-Novoe.

Two major strategic advantages

Bin Yishai added that Hamas wants to extend the ceasefire in order to achieve two important strategic advantages. The first is that if Israel does not continue the war and cannot control all hotbeds of “terrorism”, Hamas will continue to rule Gaza Strip. It calls them.

The authors add that if this happens, then… Israel It will not achieve its most important war goal, which is to weaken Hamas’s military and civilian control of the Gaza Strip.

As for the second advantage, Hamas is achieving it in cooperation with its “Iranian sponsors.”Hezbollah“The Lebanese”, a “declaration of victory” in the war against the Israeli army, “which started on October 7 and ended without the courage and lack of action by Hamas”Islamic Jihad Movement fail. “Ishai said that this statement would be allowed if the ceasefire that began on Friday becomes permanent.

A blow to its deterrence capabilities

The author goes on to say that if Hamas wins the war, Israel’s deterrence capabilities will take a serious hit and may be viewed as a threat to its survival.

Bin Ishay stressed that the Hamas leadership has no intention of violating the ceasefire agreement, but it does not control all its activities in the northern Gaza Strip.

However, he expected that ceasefire violations occurred from time to time and were most likely not initiated by Hamas but by “local agents who are currently hiding in the tunnels and are unaware of the agreement” or who discovered it “accidentally” He had a confrontation with the Israeli army.

No need to rush

In his article, the military analyst does not see a reason to rush to resume fighting due to local violations, since “the fate of (Israeli) prisoners is paramount” unless a major violation occurs, such as firing missiles into Israel . Israel. Then the resumption of fighting needs to be reconsidered, he said.

As for what will happen if Hamas announces its readiness to negotiate the fate of the 120 young men and women it has detained and demands an extension of the ceasefire, this would be a major dilemma facing the State of Israel. See Yedioth Ahronoth’s article.