Stretching U.S. Patience, Time Is Running Out on Israel's Campaign Against Hamas in Gaza - Israel News - Haaretz.com
Assessments heard in the Israeli media in recent days were confirmed in Politico over the weekend: the Biden administration is giving the Israel Defense Forces three more weeks in the Gaza Strip in its current mode of operation.
Around the end of the year, Washington will signal to Israel that it's time to change the character of the war it's waging in Gaza, and that it should withdraw its forces and redeploy them near the border, conducting smaller-scale raids against remaining Hamas strongholds from there.
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In the last few days, the U.S. cast a veto on a proposed UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. At the same time, the U.S. advanced a deal for supplying Israel with 45,000 tank shells. However, American credit is not unlimited, and it may be shrinking.
U.S. President Joe Biden, in Las Vegas, on Friday.Credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP
Many Israelis are making false assumptions regarding the length of time Washington is affording Israel for continuing its large-scale ground maneuver. U.S. President Joe Biden has his own considerations, mainly the growing reservations among young Democrats over support for Israel, given the scope of death and destruction wrought by Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip. Israel could stretch American patience for a few additional weeks beyond January 1, but for now, it seems that this will be the limit.
The time available to the IDF makes the current attack even more critical for the outcome of this war. Israeli divisions are now waging three parallel battles, and in all of them, they are meeting stiffer resistance than previously, apparently due to the fact that Hamas is attributing more importance to protecting its remaining assets after many of them were attacked or overpowered.
According to the preplanned operation, the IDF continues to advance relatively slowly and cautiously, employing massive firepower. The adoption of a "pulverizing" strategy is meant to ensure maximal damage to armed Hamas fighters while minimizing own losses as much as possible. Herein lies the tension between the goals of the war and the time allotted for their achievement, assuming that the Americans are already holding a stopwatch.
If the U.S. indeed exerts pressure on Israel, what Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar may understand from the Politico report is that what he must do now is hold out for another three weeks, and hope that Washington does the rest.
The American demand that Israel increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza has given Hamas more breathing space. There is almost no doubt that some of the fuel entering the enclave reaches Hamas and is used in its tunnels. In fact, more fuel is entering Gaza now than during last month's cease-fire, in which Hamas released dozens of hostages.
A view of Jabalya refugee camp on October 11, 2023, just days after the start of Israeli air attacks in Gaza.Credit: Yahya Hassouna/AFP
The army hopes to conclude most of its operations in the northern part of the Gaza Strip within a week, but then the battle in Khan Yunis will become even more critical. The IDF will try to vanquish Hamas' fortifications there, hoping to hit Sinwar or other senior Hamas figures, based on the assumption that they are hiding in or near the city – an assumption that prevailed before the arrival of the 98th Division's arrival to the area. Sinwar will have to decide whether to remain and fight, or try to flee southward, to Rafah, or possibly through the tunnels to Egypt (a scenario which will entail many potential entanglements for all sides, chiefly the government in Cairo).
These developments make combat over the next few weeks even more complicated. It's best not to be swept up by the atmosphere prevailing in TV studios, some of which are already sounding cries of victory. It's clear that the IDF has the upper hand in these battles, and that army divisions are mainly operating professionally and impressively under difficult conditions, and that the conscript and reserve soldiers (the latter comprising a significant portion of the casualties) are fighting bravely and resourcefully. But it would be best not to artificially join together pieces of the puzzle and create a false picture of a decisive blow.
Displaced Palestinians who fled Khan Yunis sitting with their belongings outside makeshift shelters in Rafah, the southern Gaza Strip last week, .Credit: Mahmud Hams/AFP
A good example of this is the photos and videos that came out of the Jabalya refugee camp on Thursday, showing over 100 Palestinians who had been arrested by Israeli forces. There were apparently some Hamas fighters who had surrendered among them, but there were also civilians who had hidden in shelters arranged by international organizations.
Photos showing the men sitting in their underwear were not distributed through the IDF spokesperson, and the army later admitted that even though it had been necessary to strip them to ensure they weren't carrying explosives, showing the photos was needless and humiliating.
This was not the first blunder in the ways Israel markets its messages to the world. A few weeks ago, soldiers from the 13th Battalion of the Golani Brigade were shown in the Palestinian parliament building in central Gaza. This was an important photo, since a company from that battalion had been hit hard in Nahal Oz on October 7, with dozens of its soldiers killed. But it turned out that the subsequent blowing up of the building was a local initiative that hadn't been approved by the army's General Staff.
No time to waste with hostages
Israel's hopes of augmenting its achievements in this war are partly based on the situation for the residents of Gaza. Here too, there was some commotion in TV studios surrounding the pictures of chaos in the southern Gaza Strip, as Hamas lost control over the distribution of humanitarian aid.
The citizens' anger is partly directed at the Hamas government, which brought this terrible predicament upon them. And yet, it seems that there is a great difference between the Gaza above ground and the Gaza underground. In the tunnels, senior Hamas officials can live in relative safety while the masses above ground are paying daily for the murderous and delusional October 7 attack.
Israel cannot really control the intensity of the crisis. Blood tests carried out on some of the released hostages showed signs of dangerous viruses that have apparently reached the Strip's water supply. Along with a shortage of food and medicine, and the enormous burden on local hospitals, these are early warning signs of the spread of dangerous diseases.
Sahar Baruch in the video released by Hamas
This phenomenon leads to two conclusions. First, Israel must appoint a coordinator of humanitarian aid who will work with the Americans and the international community. An officer in uniform, such as the coordinator of government activities in the occupied territories, will not suffice. There is a need for a civilian who can carry out a policy that is backed by the cabinet, such Nitzan Alon, who is coordinating operations regarding the hostages and missing people. Second, as the families of the hostages keep warning, Israel doesn't have time to waste.
According to the IDF, there are 138 people still in the hands of Hamas, including 9 Thai nationals. But almost every day we learn of the death of another hostage. In some cases, these are people whose bodies were abducted on October 7. In others, the hostages died in captivity as a result of the harsh conditions under which they were held. Some were murdered in cold blood by Hamas.
On Friday, Hamas announced the death of Sahar Baruch from Kibbutz Be'eri, claiming that he was killed during an Israeli attempt to save him. The IDF confirmed that there was an attempt to free hostages by a special ops unit, in which two soldiers were seriously wounded in an exchange of fire with Hamas, but it says that Baruch was murdered, not hit by soldiers who had tried to extricate him from captivity. No one was extricated in that operation.
Two female hostages who returned to Israel said in an interview with Haaretz that they thought they were in danger when airstrikes hit close to where they were being held. The army doesn't have a complete picture of the locations where Hamas is holding hostages, and there is no doubt that the continued fighting is endangering their lives.
Heavy losses
Fighting in densely populated urban areas, often at close range, is exacting a heavy price from the IDF as well. In one incident in the Jabalya refugee camp on Thursday, two fighters from the elite reservist 55th Brigade were killed, Master Sgt. (res.) Eyal Meir Berkovich, 28, from Jerusalem and Master Sgt. (res.) Gal Meir Eisenkot, 25, from Herzliya. Berkovich was the platoon sergeant. His friend Eisenkot was the force's medic.
Gadi Eisenkot with wife, Hana at their son's funeral, on FridayCredit: Tomer Appelbaum
A preliminary investigation showed that a Hamas spotter had detected the force, leading to the activation of explosive devices near a shaft leading to a tunnel. Gal's father, former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, who eulogized him at the funeral on Friday, said that Gal believed in the justice of this war and was especially sensitive to the distress of the hostages, about whom he had asked in their last brief meeting, which took place while the battle was raging.
The elder Eisenkot, who is now part of the war cabinet, led the pressure to reach the first deal to release hostages more than two weeks ago. Throughout the war, Eisenkot has had considerable influence on the shaping of policy, but this was often accompanied by disputes over the need to allocate maximal effort to the release of the hostages, as well as over the manner in which the IDF is conducting the war.
Thousands of people came to the military plot in the old Herzliya cemetery on Friday, many of them carrying Israeli flags. The eulogizers, mostly friends and family members, talked about a young man full of charm and skills, who did things thoroughly and excelled in everything he did, becoming a focus of support and love for his friends. The family's youngest son said that at home, he was the "axis of fun."
Ever since Israel became embroiled in a deep internal crisis, which was exacerbated by the attempts to legislate a judicial overhaul, the senior Eisenkot grew very concerned. He was one of the first to identify the great danger embedded in the combination of a growing political rift, the spread of the disputes into the ranks of the IDF, and the regional reality, with Israel's enemies perceiving it as weak and divided.
In March, after an explosive device was detonated near Megiddo junction in an attack instigated by Hezbollah, he openly warned of the possibility that war could break out. He told one of the people who was formerly under his command and who now holds a senior post: "Pay attention; this is going to blow up on your watch."
Due to Gadi Eisenkot's status, his son's funeral was broadcast live on television. Israel has not seen such a public spectacle for many years. The former chief of staff choked up as he eulogized his son, with many people shedding tears along with him. The ending of his eulogy could be read as a bequest left by the son to his father: "We'll continue to be a tightly-knit and happy family so that the sacrifice you and the fallen have made will not have been in vain," said the father in his parting words to his son.
"We'll do everything we can to be worthy, in contributing to the right decisions for the sake of those who sacrificed, for the sake of your brothers-in-arms and the entire people of Israel, who embrace us in this difficult hour."