The specialist in Middle East affairs Maria João Tomás considers TSF that Israel can only save the hostages that Hamas uses as human shields if it invades Gaza by land.
“It is the only possibility that Israel has at this moment to rescue the hostages,” he guarantees, “because by air it runs the risk of killing them.” The reason is simple: “The hostages are in the tunnels of Gaza and the tunnels of Gaza are under the houses, they are under the warehouses. Hamas gives houses to people and then, under the houses, it puts warehouses where it says weapons”. “Then, under the weapons, they still make tunnels, which is where they can circulate. Gaza cannot expand, it is 40 kilometers by ten. The only way to expand is downwards.”
It is in these tunnels where “the hostages will be, and these hostages are serving as human shields. The aerial part will not be of much use because, in addition to killing them, it will destroy everything.”
“That could be the least of Netanyahu’s problems or the least of his worries, but either way, an airstrike will kill the hostages. The only way to get them out is by put down. We are going to enter an urban guerrilla that has an advantage for Hamas because it knows the tunnels well. It is a parallel Gaza that creates a disadvantage for Israeli forces,” he explained.
For the expert, Netanyahu deliberately ignored the Hamas attack, but the plan failed.
“My personal opinion was that he was interested in neglecting this attack because he thought that they were not going to do anything extraordinary. On the other hand, using all the power he had, he finished them off in two steps and emerged victorious. He quickly silenced the opposition, silenced the international community, silenced everything. But the plan failed because Hamas had been preparing this for a long time, it has all the terrorist brigades in the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas achieved internal unity, which was a concern, and then it will be able to achieve a lot with the hostages because Benjamin Netanyahu surely will not want to let his people die. Then we have Americans, we have people from all over the world. There are 180, 150 are in the tunnels, another 30 who are distributed throughout the homes of Gaza,” reveals the specialist in humanitarian affairs. Middle East.
According to Maria João Tomás, there is no way to side with Hamas or the Netanyahu government in this conflict.
“No one can support Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organization that did what it did in those cities. We cannot take sides with a terrorist organization, we can try to understand why it came here, that is another matter and we can also try. “To understand why Netanyahu has the government he has. This is not a religious government, it is a violent government. The person responsible for the defense is a very beaten general who was in the Lebanon war, who was in several confrontations with Gaza”, he clarified.
He also stressed, however, that “what is happening in the Gaza Strip has been a horror for many years” and, therefore, defends the need to separate “what Hamas is and what the Palestinians are.” The professor and researcher also points out that Arab countries will play a “very important role” in achieving peace, putting a stop to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
“It is good to understand that there is a very big difference between what Hamas is and what the Palestinians are. Between what Hamas is and the desire of the Palestinians to have their land and their borders defined and international recognition as such. It is important that separation be made,” he argues.
The specialist in Middle East affairs draws attention to another fact that, according to her, has been forgotten: “What is happening in the Gaza Strip has been a horror for many years and people forget it, because the Palestinians themselves are Hamas hostages. Hamas is in charge,” he warns, explaining that if the “monetary situation is bad, it was bad before, now it will get worse.”
“They [os palestinianos] Their electricity was cut off for a long time and water was also scarce. What is happening now and what Israel is doing in the Gaza Strip has been happening for a long time, but now they have formally announced it,” she reinforces.
The United States revealed this Thursday that it does not have any information about Iran’s direct or indirect participation in the attack on Hamas and Maria João Tomás believes that if Iran became involved, the consequences would be serious.
“Iran’s direct involvement is a broader war and this is beginning to attract partners,” he warns.
Maria João Tomás also explains that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has left the Ukrainian president “terrified” and, on the contrary, Russia “rubs its hands with joy.”
“Israel has already compromised, diverting attention from Ukraine and Zelensky is full of fear and terrified, because part of the support that came from the United States is currently going to Israel, with the aggravating factor that the Republican side is very close to the lobby. Jewish and I have already said that I don’t want to send anything else to Ukraine,” he explains.
As for Egypt, whose Sinai Peninsula borders Gaza, Maria João Tomás believes that, together with other Arab countries, it will play a very important role in mediating the conflict and building peace.
“Egypt has a very important role because of the Sinai and because it does not care that there is war there, because it has Cairo, the Suez Canal. It cares that there is peace there, because it affects the most important thing that exists, which is the economy. and will directly affect what is its largest source of income: the passage of the Suez Canal,” he says.
The expert also highlights that the rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel “has ended, it has been suspended”, with the Abraham Accords – “which brought some Arab countries closer to Israel” – led by the Arab League.
“Arab countries will play a very important role in peace,” he reinforces.
Source: TSF
