American pressure on Israel is mounting to reduce the intensity of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
American pressure on Israel is mounting to reduce the intensity of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Over the last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Vice President Kamala Harris have urged Israel to take greater measures to minimize civilian casualties. This call comes at a critical juncture as the IDF intensifies its push into the southern part of the Gaza Strip, eyeing the toppling of Hamas and its leadership.
In the face of mounting pressure, Israel’s war cabinet and military commanders are acutely aware of the inevitable—an American call for an end to the conflict and the establishment of a mechanism for the day after the war. The challenge is that in Israel there is still a lack of clarity on what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government wants for Gaza. It has only been articulating what it does not want.
Netanyahu has outlined two key conditions for concluding the war: first, Israel must retain security control over Gaza, and second, the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, must not replace Hamas as the ruling entity in Gaza.
On the surface, Netanyahu’s arguments hold merit. The barbaric attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7 underscore the lesson that Israel cannot outsource its security. Withdrawal from territory without a reliable entity to ensure security is too risky a gamble. Instead, for the foreseeable future, Israel will need to continue to operate in the Gaza Strip against Hamas attempts to rebuild its terrorist infrastructure with the same freedom with which it operates in the West Bank.
In addition, the PA still has laws on its books that pay salaries to Palestinians who kill Jews, and its education system continues to incite violence.
