Committing massacres to spoil the negotiation atmosphere and provoke reactions that create pretexts

Dr. Ahmed Rafiq Awad: Israel seeks, through these massacres, to punish the Palestinians for their steadfastness and push them into despair
Sari Sammour: Israel is bullying the innocent, and every round of negotiations is preceded by massacres and new conditions
Dr. Qusay Hamed: The massacres are an Israeli strategy to empty the Gaza Strip, take revenge, and pressure Hamas through the popular incubator
Firas Yaghi: After all this international silence, Israel now has all the green lights to shed Palestinian blood
Moein Odeh: An Israeli tactic that aims primarily to raise the Palestinian human cost to the maximum possible extent
Professor Abdul Wahab Al-Awj: Signs of a solution are approaching in light of the multiple international pressures coinciding with the approach of the US presidential elections

Dr. Munir Nusseibeh: One of the implications of the massacre is that the occupation does not intend to show any form of good faith in the upcoming negotiations.


The Israeli occupation state escalates its criminal war and intensifies its massacres in the Strip whenever there is talk of new negotiations aimed at bridging the gaps and completing the discussions to reach an agreement that leads to an exchange deal, and the ensuing requirements that lead to the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, reconstruction and lifting the siege. The brutal massacres committed by the occupation state prior to any negotiations show its lack of seriousness in reaching an agreement on a prisoner exchange or a ceasefire, and reflect its desire and tendency towards escalation, at a time when the Palestinian resistance confirms its commitment to its established principles to reach an agreement acceptable to it and its audience, and its refusal to surrender or make concessions under the pressure of the brutal Israeli massacres.
In separate interviews with “I”, writers and political analysts believe that the escalation of massacres committed by the Israeli occupation reflects an Israeli strategy aimed at undermining the steadfastness of civilians, fragmenting the popular incubator for resistance, and achieving political goals by pressuring Hamas through civilians, through killing, displacement, and starvation.

Massacres as a means of terror since the 1930s

Writer and political analyst Dr. Ahmed Rafiq Awad believes that the Israeli occupation has turned the brutal massacres into daily events against the Palestinians, which has led the world to lose awareness of the seriousness of these crimes.
He pointed out that turning massacres into a daily event has numbed the world, to the point that there are no longer any condemnations even from international bodies.
Awad said that the massacres committed by the occupation aim to shorten the time and obtain quick results by fragmenting the Palestinian civil incubator, and thus breaking the back of the resistance.
Awad stressed that Israel has used the massacre as a means of terror and shock since the 1930s, and continues to use it without accountability, which reflects its lack of concern for international accountability.
According to Awad, Israel seeks through these massacres to punish the Palestinian people for their steadfastness, to undermine their will and make them feel hopeless and frustrated. The massacre also aims to turn the idea of steadfastness or surrender into a meaningless idea, and the massacre seeks annihilation, which makes people lose the desire to live.
Awad pointed out that the massacre method is used to break the civilian incubator of the resistance and turn it into one that rejects the resistance, explaining that exerting great pressure in this way aims to make the idea of resistance seem like a crazy idea that must be avoided.

complete defeat or complete victory

Awad stressed that during all stages of the negotiations, Israel carries out individual assassinations of resistance leaders and mass assassinations of the public, which reflects its efforts to annihilate the leaders and the base together, pointing out that the occupation wants to send a message that it does not recognize the idea of equal negotiations, but rather seeks to obtain complete surrender.
He added: "On the other hand, we are facing a resistance leadership that refuses to surrender and believes in the idea of martyrdom, and does not see escape from the Strip as a correct end, stressing that the resistance has passed the stage of escape and surrender, and that the massacres will not lead to the results that Israel desires.
Awad pointed out that Israel and the resistance have reached the point of no return, which makes negotiations always fail because each party wants complete defeat or complete victory, stressing that the field is what will determine the direction of events, and that massacres will not bring Israel closer to achieving its goals, and will not make the resistance break its back in favor of the occupation.

Negotiations are a cover for massacres

In turn, writer and political analyst Sari Sammour considered that the massacres committed by Israel before any talk of negotiations reflect its lack of serious intention to reach an agreement.
Sammour warned of the danger of talking about negotiations as a cover for the massacres that are taking place, which he described as "frightening."
He pointed out that every round of negotiations is preceded by a wave of massacres and new Israeli conditions, which indicates that Israel is unwilling to end the war.
He pointed out that the method of massacres is not new, but rather is part of the Israeli strategy since the beginning of the occupation, as Israel was established on three main pillars: massacres, displacement, and Western support, and massacres constitute an integral part of Israel's existence.

Sending messages in blood

Sammour pointed out that Israel considers the entire population of the Gaza Strip as enemies and participants in attacks against it, and that there is a policy based on killing the population of Gaza en masse, with the Israeli occupation believing that the children in Gaza will become "terrorists" when they grow up, according to their claim.
Sammour explained that Israel seeks, through these massacres, to send messages before the ceasefire negotiations, the most prominent of which is that it is not interested in reaching an agreement, but rather is focusing on escalation and genocide, taking advantage of the innocent.
He pointed out that the resistance seeks to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people, but it demands guarantees to stop the massacres and find permanent stability in the Strip.

An indication of Israel's failure to destroy Hamas

As for Dr. Qusay Hamed, Professor of Political Science at Al-Quds Open University, he said: “Israel’s targeting of civilians in the Gaza Strip is not just a strategy to pressure Hamas or an attempt to incite public opinion in Gaza against it, but rather an implementation of a long-term approach aimed at emptying Gaza of its population as part of a broader strategy related to genocide and satisfying Israel’s desire for revenge.”
Hamed explained that it is a strategy that reflects a failure to achieve Israel's goal of destroying the structure of the Hamas movement, or subjecting it to its negotiating conditions.

Four basic issues that Hamas will not give up

Hamed stressed that Israel seeks through this to pressure Hamas through the popular incubator, and then to feed the feeling that Hamas must make concessions in the negotiations to stop the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza. This is part of an attempt to create international public opinion to exonerate Israel and hold Hamas responsible for the tragedies and woes that befall the people of Gaza and for the failure of efforts to reach a ceasefire.
Hamed pointed out that this is a method that Israel has repeated in various rounds of negotiations, in its relentless efforts to turn the Gaza Strip into an uninhabitable place.
Hamed pointed to four basic issues that form the backbone of Hamas's demands, which are: an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a prisoner exchange, ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid, and the reconstruction of the Strip, noting that Hamas will not abandon these four rules as a condition for completing any deal, even if it shows some flexibility in the implementation mechanisms here and there.

Call for surrender and raising the white flag

The writer and political analyst, Firas Yaghi, believes that the goal of the massacres, especially the massacre of the Tab’een School, is not only that Netanyahu and Israel want to thwart the statement of the three mediators, by pushing Hamas and the resistance to reject negotiations because of the massacres, but that Israel and Netanyahu want negotiations that are tailored to their needs and within their conditions.
According to Yaghi, Israel, led by Netanyahu, wants to impose its conditions in the negotiations, the basis of which is to subjugate Hamas and the resistance, by targeting civilians and the resistance community, i.e. calling for surrender and raising the white flag. Moreover, all the massacres come within the context of the concept of genocide, ethnic cleansing and revenge so that the Israelis can have their fill of Palestinian blood.
Yaghi believed that the massacre of the Tab’een School covered up the idea of the Iranian response and the Hezbollah response, meaning that it gave the Israeli interior self-confidence through the blood of the defenseless and civilians, and sent a message that the army will target anyone who harms Israel with massacres targeting civilians.

An Israeli message that the Palestinian has no choice but to die or surrender

Yaghi pointed out that after all the international silence on the massacres it is committing, Israel now has all the green lights to shed Palestinian blood.
Yaghi pointed out that the Israeli plan is still being strongly proposed, through removing the Palestinian population mass from the Palestinian geography, and under the title that Israel's security does not come from the presence of the living Palestinian, so he must be ethnically cleansed, exterminated and forcibly displaced. The policy of massacres was the clearest policy, which is what happened in the massacre of the Tab'een School, where about a hundred Palestinians were killed in one place, in addition to dozens of wounded.
He pointed out that Israel wants to send a message to all Palestinians, not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank and inside, that the Palestinians have no choice but to die or surrender, so the massacres aim to cleanse and burn consciousness at the same time.
On the other hand, Yaghi believes that the culture of the Palestinian people is life, and all the killing that is happening will reinforce that culture, and that the policy of massacres, and committing massacre after massacre, will not be able to subjugate those who cannot be subjugated, and will not be able to force surrender on those who were born free, resistant, and believing that if everyone leaves us, God is with us, and that is enough.

Massacres at every round of negotiations

US-based international law lawyer Moein Odeh told AH: Every time a serious round of negotiations begins or these negotiations come close to reaching practical results to end the Israeli aggression on Gaza, the occupation forces deliberately inflict a large number of Palestinian casualties. This is not the first time, and it will not be the last, that the occupation forces resort to this tactic, which is primarily aimed at raising the Palestinian human cost to the maximum possible extent. Israel will continue with these tactics until the last moment before declaring a ceasefire.
Awda pointed out that international and Arab condemnation and denunciation did not and will not prevent Israel from continuing with this operational tactic aimed at giving the Israeli community an image of victory, collectively punishing the Palestinians as much as possible, and in many cases also destabilizing the truce negotiations and causing them to collapse, and giving the image to the countries sponsoring the negotiations that the one who caused the negotiations to fail was the Palestinian party.

The world is preoccupied with the goals of the negotiations and the possible Iranian response

Awda believes that Israel is also exploiting the world’s preoccupation with the potential Iranian response, and is trying to increase Palestinian civilian suffering as much as possible. First, it believes that the world will not pay attention to these massacres because it is focused on the Iranian response. Second, it relies on the idea that the countries sponsoring the negotiations will ignore these massacres in their desire to reach a sustainable truce. Third, it is to send messages to civilians in the West Bank, Iran, and Lebanon that this will happen to you too if things escalate into a regional war.
Lawyer Awda stressed that Israel also seeks, through these massacres and targeting, to send a clear message to the Palestinians and others in the region that there is no safe place, even if these places are UN schools or even “safe areas,” as the Israelis describe them, in an attempt to restore the image of deterrence on the one hand, and to create a Palestinian public opinion that will pressure to stop the war as quickly as possible, which will allow Israel to achieve additional points in the negotiations that it was unable to gain on the battlefield.

Massacres and atrocities to terrorize the Palestinians and make it a lesson and a warning

In turn, Professor Abdul Wahab Al-Awj, academic and political analyst at Taiz University in Yemen, told "Y": What the Israeli occupation is doing in the Gaza Strip are war crimes in every sense of the word, but why have these operations increased recently? I think it is in order to reach a settlement and calm in the short term, not the long term, and it is just around the corner."
He pointed out that "the Netanyahu administration and the extreme right are trying to commit the largest number of crimes and massacres to terrorize civilians and make it a lesson for the Palestinians so that they do not attack Israel," noting that "the military operations carried out by the Israeli occupation in Palestine, specifically in Gaza, indicate that it has emerged from this battle without achieving any real, tangible military results, and has not been able to eliminate the leaders of the Hamas movement, nor the movement's military wing, or assassinate important leaders in the field."

Massacres to compensate for Netanyahu's failure to achieve his goals before the Israelis

Al-Auj pointed out that Netanyahu is trying to abuse innocent Palestinians and target schools and civilian facilities, feeling that he has not convinced the Israeli street that he was able to achieve his goals, despite his huge military machine and the weak capabilities of the Palestinian resistance.
The Yemeni analyst believes that the signs of a solution have come closer in light of the multiple international pressures, coinciding with the approach of the US presidential elections, and that Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, spoke about the need to stop the war and stop the attacks on Palestinian civilians, pointing out that all these factors indicate that the world is tired of Israel destroying all aspects of life in Gaza over the course of ten months, in addition to targeting displaced civilians and the crimes that occurred in the prisons. All of this indicates that solutions have come closer due to the pressures exerted on the occupation government, which did not feel that it emerged victorious from this war, despite everything it did.

UN resolutions not translated into reality

Dr. Munir Nusseibeh, a professor of law at Al-Quds University, told Al-Masdar Online: The most important indication of the massacre at the Tab’een School in Gaza is that the Israeli occupation does not intend to show any form of good faith in the negotiations aimed at ending the aggression on the Gaza Strip.
He added: Despite all that has been issued by international courts, various specialized UN organizations, and various reports accusing the Israeli occupation of war crimes against humanity and genocide, this has not yet been translated into punitive diplomatic action.
Nusseibeh continued: “At this moment, it is necessary to impose clear sanctions against the Israeli occupation, starting with the Arab countries, the Islamic Cooperation countries, and the African Union countries, and extending to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, we have not begun to see this scene. Of course, this matter has made the Israeli occupation bolder to continue its aggressive policies against Gaza.”
Naseebah explained that "if the massacres stop, Israel must end the war, and then clear sanctions must be imposed against the Israeli occupation."