Israel, Iran’s attack “significant and inevitable”. World with bated breath – Time

Exactly six months have passed since October 7, 2023 when an unprecedented Hamas raid in southern Israel killed 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, most of them civilians. The conflict generated is still without a solution, and develops between attempts at peace and a continuous war of words between Tel Aviv and the Islamist movement. Today Israel withdrew its ground forces from the southern Gaza Strip, a partial withdrawal, accompanied by statements from the Tel Aviv army that a “significant force” will nevertheless continue to operate elsewhere in the besieged Palestinian territory, in capable of “conducting precise intelligence-based operations”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under intense American pressure to put an end to the massacre of civilians in the now devastated Gaza Strip, intervened by saying that Israel is only “one step away from victory” and promised that there will be no respite in the fighting until Hamas will not have released all the hostages.

In fact, tomorrow will be a key day for negotiations in Cairo where mediators from the United States, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and Hamas will meet in an attempt to reach a truce and the release of the hostages. But Israel does not seem to give up its intent to win over Hamas. «There will be no ceasefire without the return of the hostages. It simply won’t happen,” the prime minister said, speaking at a cabinet meeting. «Israel is ready for an agreement – he also added -, but it is not ready to surrender».

Meanwhile, airstrikes continued to hit Khan Yunis and Rafah during the night, according to eyewitnesses. “The 98th Commando Division concluded its mission in Khan Yunis,” the army told AFP. “The division left the Gaza Strip to recover and prepare for future operations” added the armed forces that moved away from the south of the Strip. “We did everything we might there,” an official said. Whether or not Israel’s move is a harbinger of a peace deal will become clear tomorrow when CIA chief Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani join Egyptian officials for indirect talks between delegations Israeli and Hamas.

Behind Tel Aviv’s moves there are also the words of US President Joe Biden who last Thursday, angered by an Israeli attack that killed seven aid workers from a US-based food charity, told Netanyahu to wanting to see a ceasefire and an agreement on the release of hostages and an increase in aid deliveries. Biden – whose government is Israel’s main arms supplier and political supporter – had also hinted at making US support for Israel conditional on reducing civilian killings and improving humanitarian conditions.

But in the background there is also the threat of Iran. The United States expects a “significant” attack by Tehran within the next week, targeting Israel or American assets in the region, in response to the Israeli attack on Damascus that killed senior Iranian officials. Washington believes that an attack by Iran is “inevitable”, a view shared by Israel. And the two governments would be working in preparation for the attack.

Striking Israel directly would be one of the worst-case scenarios the Biden administration is considering, because it might lead to a rapid escalation of tensions in the Middle East. The risk is that of a widening of the conflict with Hamas, something that US President Joe Biden has been trying to avoid for months. Netanyahu fears him but continues to show off his strength and invincibility: «Whoever harms us or intends to harm us, we will harm him. Let us put this principle into practice, continuously and in the last days,” he added in his speech today. “Since October 7, we have been attacked on many fronts by affiliates of Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, militias in Iraq and Syria,” he said. «Israel – he concluded – is ready, in defense and attack, for any attempt to hit us, from anywhere». Meanwhile, almost 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded together in the area on the border with Egypt, many of whom live in tents. Dozens of people left Rafah on foot, fearing Israel’s push into the area, in cars and on donkey carts and returned to Khan Yunis today following the Israeli withdrawal, AFP images show.