Netanyahu's policy to prolong the war

The occupying state continues to commit crimes and massacres in Gaza, and it is no longer a secret to anyone that its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, not only did not respond to calls for a ceasefire, but also preempted any positive atmosphere by committing mass massacres against women and children, or resorted to regional escalation before every negotiation process, with the aim of thwarting it.

A quick review of the events reveals the previous truth:

Baptist massacre

On October 17, 2023, as US President Joe Biden was preparing to head to Jordan to attend a four-way summit on Gaza with the participation of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Jordanian King Abdullah II, and President Mahmoud Abbas, the Israeli army carried out a massacre in the courtyard of the Arab Baptist Hospital in the center of Gaza City, killing 500 displaced people who had taken refuge there. As a result of the regional and international outrage following the massacre, a number of these leaders apologized for attending and the summit was canceled.

Netanyahu was never held accountable, and his supporters began spreading lies to exonerate him. US President Joe Biden told the Israelis: “It seems the other side is behind this, not you.” The government of former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak considered that “the explosion at the hospital was caused by a rocket fired from Gaza,” and the French military intelligence directorate stated that the most likely scenario was that the explosion was caused by a Palestinian rocket that malfunctioned upon launch. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani claimed that “the rocket left 50 dead, not 500.”

Rafah invasion after Hamas agreed to mediators' proposal

In early May 2024, after Hamas agreed to the ceasefire paper presented by the mediators, the Israeli War Council unanimously decided to extend operations to Rafah despite all international and regional appeals. Indeed, the Israeli army occupied the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphi corridor on the border with Egypt.

Despite the issuance of a decision by the International Court of Justice - a few days later - demanding that Israel stop its operations in Rafah, the destruction of the city continued and dozens of massacres took place, the most prominent of which was the "tent massacre" on May 26, 2024, west of Rafah, when Israeli warplanes launched raids on the tents of the displaced near UNRWA warehouses, resulting in the martyrdom of 45 Palestinians, most of whom were women and children.

Haniyeh's assassination and thanks

In early August 2024, the Israeli occupation carried out two successive assassination operations targeting Hezbollah’s military commander, Fouad Shukr, and then Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was in Iran to attend the inauguration ceremony for its new president.

As is the approach, this Israeli escalation came after Hamas showed flexibility and positivity during the month of July to facilitate reaching a ceasefire agreement, so it accepted a new wording for Article 8 of the draft agreement proposed by the American side, which Netanyahu met with procrastination and delaying the sending of the Israeli negotiating delegation, before he traveled to Washington to deliver his speech in the American Congress.

The assassination of the Hamas negotiator was a clear message that the occupation government does not want a ceasefire, but rather seeks regional escalation after the scope of discussion regarding the terms of the agreement narrowed.

Al-Tabi'een School Massacre

After the occupation government ignited the regional environment and brought it to the brink of inevitable war, the American administration tried to ease the regional tension and take an initiative to restore momentum to the negotiations after the occupation government spoiled their atmosphere, so it worked to pump new waters by calling for the implementation of the agreement without delay.

Barely 24 hours had passed since the tripartite statement issued by the United States, Egypt and Qatar saying that it was time to conclude a ceasefire agreement without wasting any more time and without excuses for delay, the world woke up on the morning of August 10 to an Israeli massacre at the “Al-Tabi’in School” in the Al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City, in which nearly 100 displaced Palestinians who had sought refuge in the schools after the occupation destroyed their homes were killed. They were performing the dawn prayer in the school’s prayer hall when they were targeted by the bombing.

We are facing an ongoing policy that adopts war crimes, displacement, starvation and a complete siege as an approach, and there are no real obstacles that would deter the occupying state from doing so in the future. They do not have sufficient moral restraint internally, nor do they face real pressures externally from their major allies. On the contrary, they feel supported, as happened, for example, when Washington thwarted a UN statement holding Israel responsible for the Rashid Street massacre that targeted displaced Palestinians who were waiting for aid trucks to arrive.

Unless there is real, effective pressure, it will be futile to expect any change in the position of Netanyahu and his government. We have noticed that there is a fixed and escalating line that this government is following, which is the line of continuing the war, ignoring all calls for a ceasefire, and circumventing initiatives to buy more time.

While negotiations are considered a means to reach a calm and ceasefire, the Netanyahu government uses them as a tool to mislead and continue the war and massacres.

Unless there is real, effective pressure, it will be futile to expect any change in the position of Netanyahu and his government. We have noticed that there is a fixed and escalating line that this government is following, which is the line of continuing the war, ignoring all calls for a ceasefire, and circumventing initiatives to buy more time.