FROM THE ENCOUNTER IN BEIRUT. Israel “is evaluating whether conditions exist for a ceasefire”. The turning point, reported by “military sources” to the international media comes after a diplomatic rush in the night to reach the truce, while the victims in Gaza have risen to 220, including 63 minors. Hamas has fewer rockets, only 50 were fired in the night. Israel also threatened to knock down another skyscraper, the Al-Andalus tower.
The exhaustion of the militants, weakened by the raids, and the concerns for civilians give way to diplomacy. Egypt mediates with intelligence chief Abbas Kamal, backed by White House envoy Hady Amr, and has proposed a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas starting at 6 am tomorrow. Hamas would have accepted while Israel did not respond. The UN is planning a summit for tomorrow morning and France has a resolution ready that could get the green light from the US. Joe Biden has asked Benjamin Netanyahu and his government to “slow down” the raids in this phase of frantic negotiations as it is “in their best interest”.
According to internal sources cited by Haaretz, the military leaders “are ready for a truce from tomorrow” and would already consider the results achieved sufficient, due to the enormous damage inflicted on Hamas’ military infrastructure and the number of commanders killed. At this point, achieving significant new goals is more difficult “unless Hamas makes the mistake of exposing key leaders or other key assets.”
The organization, however, despite the blows on the ground, believes it has won at this moment. He dubbed the “Sword of Jerusalem” operation and captured the center of the political scene in the West Bank and in some Arab-Israeli suburbs. It has garnered strong Arab and Muslim solidarity and inflicted a psychological blow on the Israeli population, just out of the Covid restrictions and forced to live in shelters and armored for ten days.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has summoned ambassadors, over seventy, to explain the situation. It would still take time to inflict the final blow on Hamas with the killing of Mohammed Deif, the group’s military leader. the man who transformed Hamas into a new Hezbollah capable of terrorizing half of Israel with its rockets and missiles.