A cafe in Ramallah, West Bank, last Sunday. Al Jazeera on TV. Abu Obaida appears with his head wrapped in his characteristic kufiya, which only reveals his eyes. The waiters applaud and turn up the volume to hear the message from the mysterious spokesman for the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.
A month and a half after the start of the Gaza invasion, Obaida and many other Palestinian guerrilla commanders are still alive. The ground fighting extends throughout the territory of the strip: in the north, which Israel claimed to have very much control, including Gaza City; and in the south, especially in Khan Yunis. The Israeli aviation, artillery and navy continue to drop dozens of bombs day and night and have already killed thousands of people: 18,412, according to the figure provided yesterday by the Strip’s Ministry of Health. More than 7,000 were minors. There are already 50,100 injured.
A fifth of Gaza’s buildings have been destroyed. Only a third of hospitals are still functioning. 80% of a population of 2.2 million has been forced to abandon their homes and wander through a territory from which they cannot leave, seeking refuge in hospitals, schools and churches, which are also bombed or harassed by snipers to prevent people circulate on the street.
Until yesterday, Israel had lost 105 soldiers – 13 due to friendly fire –, a figure minimized thanks to the indiscriminate bombings of a war that Beniamin Netanyahu’s Government already warned would be complex due to the extensive network of tunnels used by Hamas, where it is suspected where most of the 137 hostages kidnapped during the terrorist attack of October 7 are. However, the army has not yet managed to rescue any kidnapped people despite being one of the main objectives of the offensive, while at the same time eradicating the Islamist group from Gaza. Those kidnapped who were freed were released by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) during the truce. Yesterday, the army reported that it had recovered the bodies of two hostages – a young man who attended the rave party and a soldier – after a confrontation with Palestinian fighters, which claimed the lives of two soldiers.
Before the start of the war, it was estimated that, adding the military arms of Hamas and the YIP, there could be between 20,000 and 40,000 Palestinian guerrillas. Israel’s troops total 500,000 soldiers – including mobilized reservists – in addition to fighters, drones, warships and the latest military technology. Despite this, it does not appear that this carnage will end soon, much less before Christmas, a deadline that US President Joe Biden was rumored to have given Netanyahu in October when he visited Israel.
Furthermore, the unbearable images of dead, mutilated and injured children have caused Israel to be discredited internationally, and external pressure does not cease, whether at the UN, in Europe or from Arab countries. The United States supports the offensive, but not without fissures, since there is not a week without the White House sending some dart to Netanyahu.
Without going any further, Biden said yesterday that Israel “is beginning to lose” international support due to indiscriminate bombings and that the extreme positions of the Israeli Government “have to change.” Biden’s message, which added that Netanyahu “does not want anything even remotely close to a two-state solution,” is a consequence of the differences between the two countries over the day after the war.
Netanyahu acknowledged yesterday that there is a “disagreement” with the US and reiterated that his plan for after the war includes keeping troops in Gaza and not letting the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), controlled by Fatah, govern the strip. “I will not allow Israel to repeat the mistake of Oslo,” he said, referring to the 1993 peace agreements that created the ANP. “After the great sacrifice of our civilians and our soldiers, I will not allow entry into Gaza of those who educate for terrorism, support terrorism and finance terrorism,” he added. And he concluded: “Gaza will be neither Hamastan nor Fatahstan.”
