![Gaza: IDF presses Netanyahu to present post-war plan Gaza: IDF presses Netanyahu to present post-war plan](https://media.lesechos.com/api/v1/images/view/6643778c37ef352f52598fd7/1280x720/01101063952606-web-tete.jpg)
The Israeli army, supposed to be a “great mute”, is beginning to lose patience. On the ground, it continues and even tightens its bombings and incursions in several localities in the Gaza Strip, without Hamas appearing on the verge of being eradicated. On the contrary, the Islamist movement systematically regains control of the sectors as soon as Israeli soldiers evacuate the premises. Result: the general staff continues to increase pressure on the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, so that he decides to present a credible post-war plan, which would allow the army to have a clear objective.
“Currently we are leading a Sisyphean mission,” said General Herzi Halevi, the Chief of Staff during an interview with Benjamin Netanyahu. Important detail: the content of this discussion was this time the subject of an organized leak to the Israeli media.
Attack again and again
“Until a decision is made on replacing Hamas’ power in the Gaza Strip, we will have to attack, then attack again to try to dismantle Hamas’ infrastructure,” General Halevi added. As senior officers point out, “the momentary vacuum created by Israeli ground operations is immediately filled by Hamas, which returns as soon as the soldiers turn their backs.”
Another officer told the daily “Yediot Aharonot” that in the absence of a credible alternative to the Islamists, “Gazans, even those who hate Hamas, will continue to fear widespread chaos.” And added: “They still prefer the order imposed by Hamas rather than a situation which would transform the Gaza Strip into a sort of Somalia. »
On the ground, the IDF carried out intensive bombings on Tuesday in Rafah. Tanks took control of three additional neighborhoods of this city on the border with Egypt, where more than a million residents have taken refuge fleeing the fighting.
Netanyahu remains unclear
But the army also struck for the second time in Jabalia, another important locality in the enclave it had occupied four months ago, as well as in Zeitoun, a district of Gaza City for the third time since the outbreak of war on October 7 following massacres committed by Hamas in southern Israel. “We are acting where Hamas is trying to restore its military capabilities,” said the army spokesperson.
Despite this admission of failure to “eradicate” Hamas once and for all, Benjamin Netanyahu promised a “total victory” over the Islamists. He refuses to give a precise direction and remains vague about the post-war period. “We are probably going to have some kind of civil administration with Palestinians who do not advocate the destruction of Israel, with possible help from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other countries,” he said. he limited himself to asserting last week.
Yoav Gallant, the Minister of Defense, tried to put forward the idea that the Palestinian Authority chaired by Mahmoud Abbas, which controls part of the West Bank, could replace Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Benyamin Netanyahu immediately rejected this scenario which, according to him, could constitute a preliminary to the creation of a Palestinian state, which he does not want to hear about under any circumstances.
Pressure from the far right
Above all, he fears that the two leaders of far-right parties, Itamar Ben Gvir, the Minister of National Security in charge of the police, and Bezalel Smotrich, the Minister of Finance, will leave the majority and cause the overthrow of the government at the slightest concession on his part.
In such a confusing situation, Israelis were not in the mood to celebrate Independence Day on Tuesday, celebrated for the first time while the country is at war. Most of them were unable to indulge in the joy of the traditional picnics without letting go of anxiety over the fate of the 132 hostages held by Hamas. No hope for their release or a ceasefire is tangible at this stage.