The Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian terror group Hamas, is Israel’s main target and is the scene of constant bombings and small military incursions – in anticipation of the announced large-scale ground invasion. But the attention of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is divided between two other points of tension, which could at any moment cause the situation to deteriorate further: the West Bank and Lebanon.
Israeli raids on the occupied West Bank have occurred daily since Hamas militants launched a surprise operation against Israel on October 7, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostage. Palestinians say Israeli forces entered the Jalazone refugee camp, near Ramallah, in the early hours of yesterday, killing at least two people and detaining around 20 people. At least 120 people were arrested in the West Bank alone that night, nearly a hundred of whom have been killed since the Hamas attack.
With the Palestinians already detained in the West Bank, in addition to Gaza workers outside that area who were detained shortly after the October 7 attack, Israel will have nearly doubled the number of Palestinians arrested. One of Hamas’s demands to release the more than 200 hostages it took on the day of the surprise attack concerns the release of the prisoners, while at the time it was estimated that there would be fewer than 6,000 and now there will be more than being. ten thousand, according to the Palestinians.
Unlike the Gaza Strip, which has been controlled by Hamas since 2007, the West Bank is an area occupied since the 1967 war, with some areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmud Abbas. He has condemned Israeli attacks on Gaza, but his security forces have also controlled protests and demonstrations against Israel. Furthermore, Abbas’ Fatah (Hamas’ rival) has not made any calls for armed resistance.
The problem is that the tone of the protest against the 87-year-old leader of the Palestinian Authority itself has also increased, because there have been no elections for years. And if he loses control of the situation, Israel could be forced to intervene even more than it is now – having effectively closed all checkpoints between Palestinian cities. In the occupied West Bank, approximately 500,000 Israelis live in settlements considered illegal by the international community.
The threat from the north
In the north of the country, the situation for Israel is more complicated, because on the other side of the 80-kilometer border with Lebanon lies the Shiite group Hezbollah. The latter has intensified its attacks on Israeli targets using anti-tank missiles, which in turn have responded in kind, killing at least forty people in Lebanon (four of them civilians, one of them a Reuters journalist).
The question is whether the firefight at the border merely serves to distract Israel and delay its plans to enter the Gaza Strip, or whether Hezbollah, the largest political force in Lebanon and with military power over Hamas, is involved will be affected by war. And what does Iran think, which finances the Shia group and supplies weapons?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Hezbollah would be making “the mistake of his life” if it went to war with Israel now, and analysts do not rule out that this could happen if Israeli forces invade the Gaza Strip.
The last war between Hezbollah and Israel, in 2006, ended with 1,200 dead in Lebanon (mostly civilians) and 160 in Israel (mostly security forces). The International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 19,000 people have already left their homes in southern Lebanon due to rising tensions in the region, and there were also orders on the Israeli side to evacuate from some locations.
Five thousand dead in Gaza
Without forgetting the West Bank and Lebanon, Israel’s main focus remains Hamas. “You will soon see the inside of the Gaza Strip,” “keep preparing,” the offensive “will be deadly.” The days pass and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant repeats the same message to the soldiers he visited, leading us to believe that one day access to Palestinian territory will be confirmed.
This Monday, Hamas, meanwhile, announced the release of two more hostages on Friday – after an American mother and daughter. The terrorist group, which is negotiating through Qatar and Egypt, claims humanitarian reasons for this new action, but continues to pressure Israel with a trickle of releases to delay the ground offensive. The freed are two Israelis, Nurit Yitzhak and Yocheved Lifshitz, whom Hamas said last weekend it had already offered to release, claiming Israel had refused. Netanyahu responded at the time by calling it “mendacious propaganda” and reiterating that he will continue to do everything he can to ensure that all hostages return home.
For the time being, Israel continues to bomb. According to the reports of local authorities, i.e. Hamas, more than five thousand people have been killed in these Israeli attacks since October 7. Two days later, Israel declared a total siege of the territory, cutting off electricity and water, and running out of fuel that powers many generators. Little by little, humanitarian aid is coming in through the southern border with Egypt, but in quantities that are insufficient to meet the needs of the two million Palestinians who cannot leave the area.
To allow for more humanitarian aid, the European Union is considering asking for a “humanitarian pause”; leaders of the 27 will discuss the issue at the summit on Thursday and Friday. European diplomacy chiefs reiterated yesterday, after a meeting in Brussels, that “Israel has the right to defend itself” but “in accordance with international humanitarian law”. However, the US has already said it opposes a ceasefire, with State Department spokesman Matthew Miller claiming it would “give Hamas time to rest, rehabilitate itself and prepare for to continue launching terrorist attacks on Israel.” The United Nations Security Council is expected to discuss the issue again on Thursday.
Source: DN
