&w=3840&q=100)
IDF's localised ceasefire in Gaza show war's strategy has crumbled, says Israeli expert
In a rare rebuke, an Israeli analyst has said that Israel's localised ceasefires put in place over the weekend shows that the strategy so far in the war has failed.
Israel on Sunday announced that it had implemented localised ceasefires for the flow of humanitarian supplies. These ceasefires have been implemented in the Al-Muwasi area in central-southern Gaza's coastal areas, Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, and Gaza City in northern Gaza, according to The Jerusalem Post.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Even though these areas account for just 25 per cent of Gaza, nearly the entire population of the Palestinian enclave is living in this area as it has been displaced by the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli localised ceasefires have come as international condemnation of the Israeli policy of restricting the flow of food and other essentials to Gaza has risen by the day. Palestinians are facing acute hunger and the United Nations (UN) has said that the level is such that one in every five children is affected by malnutrition. The situation is such that even US President Donald Trump has broken ranks with Israel and flagged the hunger crisis affecting the children of Gaza.
During March and May, Israel completely blocked the UN and other organisations from delivering aid to Gaza. Instead, the Netanyahu government joined hands with the United States to prop a private organisation, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), to deliver aid. The GHF has not just failed in its mandate because of its inability to deliver food at scale, but its delivery sites had turned into killing fields as hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in gunfire while awaiting aid at distribution sites. Gazans have attributed such fire to Israeli forces.
Amid such a situation, Israeli analyst Yonah Jeremy Bob has noted that even as Israel maintains there is no starvation, 'the brutal truth is that the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] admits there is a dangerous food situation in Gaza, even if short of the claimed mass starvation, and an awful public-relations situation there — all of this because of several Israeli policies that some in the defence establishment warned about but that were overruled by the political echelon'.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Netanyahu ignored ex-Israeli military chief, defence minister & botched aid operation
In an article in The Jerusalem Post, Bob said that policies implemented by Netanyahu by ignoring the advice of former IDF chief Herzi Halevi and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant have led to the present crisis.
Bob said that Halevi and Gallant had suggested that the a GHF-like operation should have been implemented initially at a very small scale while the UN and other organisations were still active in Gaza. He said that such a mechanism would have allowed GHF's shortcomings in the delivery of food to be fulfilled by the UN and others and, at the same, allow the GHF to finetune its delivery system and get ready for a subsequent bigger role.
Bob noted, 'Before taking larger responsibility for a larger number of Palestinians, a smaller-scale GHF-style experiment to test its potential would have been able to work through some of the issues in building a radical new and untested non-UN alternative to providing food aid. Also, this would have happened in a time period when the Palestinians had relatively more food saved in inventory storage areas, i.e., if there were hiccups with a few food deliveries, the Palestinian civilian population would not be in any immediate danger.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
'In contrast, the current Israeli policy since March was to loudly and proudly block all new food aid until May to try to pressure Hamas, and then open GHF in a framework when Palestinian civilians were already at one of the worst food shortages of the war (even if not at a point of mass starvation).'
With the current ceasefires, Bob noted that neither food crisis was being addressed nor the war on Hamas.
'Israel is also providing a 'localised' ceasefire and trying to present this as a non-ceasefire, which only covers 25 per cent of Gaza. But for the food to get to that 25 per cent, a much larger portion of Gaza will need to be under ceasefire status – maybe even the majority of Gaza. Moreover, all or nearly all of the Hamas terrorists are hiding in the 25 per cent of humanitarian areas where the 'localised' ceasefire is holding securely in place, and some of their smaller numbers in other places can now make their way to those areas to obtain immunity,' noted Bob.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scroll.in
22 minutes ago
- Scroll.in
Two visions of Berlin pride: Club music at one event, mourning for Gaza at the other
There were two pride marches in Berlin on July 26. One, organised by CSD Berlin, a registered NGO, was supported by major brands and corporations. Trucks bearing corporate logos rolled through the streets. Brand slogans floated on flags, club-style music blared from sound systems. Behind them, groups of revellers danced, posed, and marched in festive clusters. In keeping with Berlin's character, it is a technicolour procession, heavy on spectacle. 'This is a party,' said Yassi, 24, who works in hospitality. She identifies as lesbian. I was with two other queer friends, Lisa and Charlie. We had taken the S-Bahn from Potsdam to Berlin and reached the Victory Column just as the CSD parade reached its final stop behind the Brandenburg Gate. The mood there was jubilant, and familiar, much like the previous three prides I had attended. But we weren't staying. We turned and left for the second march: the Internationalist Queer Pride. Charlie, our usual route-finder, found us a back way after metro stations nearby were blocked off. On the Telegram channel, IQP had just posted an alert: the police had attacked the demonstration; the march had temporarily stopped. More updates followed, hinting at escalating tensions. Days earlier, the organisers had issued an advisory, not on party etiquette and sunscreen, but on protest safety. 'Carry a lawyer's number; avoid oil-based creams that worsen the effects of pepper spray; stay calm, stay together.' The anticipation of arrest and police action was evident. It was a sober primer for navigating a demonstration under duress, a telling indicator of how Berlin's police treats political dissent. The Internationalist Queer Pride insisted that pride remains a political demonstration, anti-racist, anti-capitalist and internationalist in makeup. There were no trucks or floats. It was attended by blocks from a wide range of marginalised collectives, disability and minority groups and migrant organisations. The speeches were raw and unsparing. They conjured not rainbow euphemisms, but Gaza, hunger, incarceration, and memory. They spoke of 'every child in Gaza crying from hunger… dying from the hunger that wraps itself around every cell'. They spoke of stones, not as metaphors, but as resistance – recalling Faris Odeh, the 14-year-old killed by Israeli forces after hurling rocks at tanks during the Second Intifada. The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network denounced 'pinkwashing' – the appropriation of queer rights to obscure state violence. 'The Israeli Occupation Forces flies rainbow flags over ruins they have bombed,' one speaker said. 'Zionism has never made Jews safer, only the world more dangerous.' For context: in the West Bank, the Israeli state continues to authorise settlement expansion in violation of international law. Just this week, Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta, featured in the award-winning documentary No Other Land, was killed near Umm al-Khair. He was 31. He had three children. He was killed by Yinon Levi, a Jewish settler previously sanctioned by the Biden administration, whose sanctions were later reversed under Trump. We reached the scene near Cottbusser Damm. On a canal wall, a banner read: 'No genocide in anti-semitism.' Nearby, three masked figures stood behind an Antifa flag. One held a placard delcaring, 'Against antisemitism and hate of Israel.' I heard a heated exchange. A woman called the IQP march anti-Semitic. A cyclist had paused beside two women in disagreement. 'It's a queer march,' he insisted. 'Not against Jewish people.' One woman scoffed and shifted the argument, 'You know why there's no ceasefire? Hamas pulled the plug last minute,' before clapping her hands and gesturing dismissively. The entire road was swamped with police officers, police surveillance vehicles and dog squads. We continued. The demo approached. There were no corporate trucks. One placard read, 'Queer as in Free Palestine.' Another asked, 'Who were you before you obeyed into silence?' A long black banner stretched across the street: 'Germany you cry 'never again' while funding it again.' On the reverse: 'If Jewish life is safe only in Israel, what does that say about Germany?' I spotted Yassi. 'This is where I belong,' she said. 'Not the other pride. This reminds me why we do this, why we march. It's political, it's for freedom, it's for everyone.' I asked if she was worried about police violence or feared arrest. 'I'm relatively privileged,' she said. 'I'm German-Moroccan and I pass as white. My risk is lower than others who've faced violence.' The march was halted. A line of police blocked the road. A group of officers charged into the crowd. There was panic among people. The police pinned an individual to the ground. The crowd chanted, 'Let them go!' Others tried to protect a demonstrator being dragged. As a photojournalist and immigrant in Germany, I was frightened. I have read about such police violence, watched videos from a safe distance. But being there, seeing it unfold metres from me, hearing people scream, watching someone pinned to the pavement, their shirt pulled over their head, it was something else entirely. It was not televised, but immediate. I stayed. The police dissolved the protest, citing threats to public safety. IQP legal observers contested it, arguing the protest had been peaceful. At the time of writing, their challenge remains unresolved. I met Sandra, a German-American woman. 'We were peaceful,' she said. 'Even when police attacked people without reason. Who are they protecting? Who are we threatening? The people are cheering us from their windows. They are not threatened.' Sandra, who grew up in East Germany, continued, 'The German police today aren't different from Nazi police.' I ask her what she thinks of freedom of assembly, democracy in Germany. Sandra's friend added, 'We're fucked. There is no freedom. They'd never treat a Zionist march like this.' While we spoke, a woman was thrown to the ground. Her shirt ripped up, her bare chest scraped against the street. People shouted, 'At least show respect for the frau.' A woman in a blue vest, perhaps part of the organising team, pleaded with police to let participants leave safely. She moved from one officer to the next, make her request. I took photos, then tried to approach the police vehicle where demonstrators were being taken. A line of officers closed in, shielding the police van. One of the officers pushed me. I stated clearly that I was a journalist and duty bound to record their actions. My camera was brushed aside without acknowledgment. I was pushed further. They moved forward as a wall. I was forced backwards. There are moments when the work of reporting blurs with the impulse to flee, to protect oneself. I was torn between documenting this story and being a part of it – between being a witness and being seen, suspended between being a body in the crowd and the one meant to observe it.
Time of India
22 minutes ago
- Time of India
Hamas Attacks IDF Soldiers With Hidden Bombs In Gaza, Blows Up Convoy Routes
Chilling new footage shows Hamas fighters in Khan Younis burying and detonating three barrel bombs aimed at an Israeli armored vehicle. The video, reportedly filmed Monday, captures the moment of explosion as thick black smoke engulfs the road. Hamas claims IDF casualties, though Israel has not confirmed. This comes amid rising violence across Gaza, with over 80 Palestinians reported killed in Israeli strikes on Friday.
NDTV
27 minutes ago
- NDTV
'Ask White House': India On US' Nobel Prize Pitch For Donald Trump
New Delhi: India on Friday said the White House should be asked the question of whether President Donald Trump should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in brokering multiple peace deals and ceasefires since his return to power in January. "My view is that it would be better if you direct that question to the White House itself," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a reporter when asked about the White House's Nobel Peace Prize pitch for Mr Trump. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday said Mr Trump should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, claiming that the US President ended several conflicts around the world, including the one between India and Pakistan, since he returned to power in January. Mr Trump has "now ended conflicts between Thailand and Cambodia, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo and Egypt and Ethiopia", she said at a White House press briefing. Ms Leavitt said the Republican leader has brokered, on average, about one peace deal or ceasefire per month during his six months in office. "It's well past time that President Trump was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize," she said. The US President has repeatedly claimed that he brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, a charge denied by New Delhi. Tensions between India and Pakistan increased following a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22, in which 26 civilians were killed. India, after finding cross-border links to the attack, launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 and struck multiple terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Pakistan then launched a massive missile and drone attack, which was intercepted by the Indian armed forces. In retaliation, Indian forces struck airfields in Pakistan. A ceasefire on May 10 ended the hostilities. Trump To Win Nobel Peace Prize? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month nominated Donald Trump, who is trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, for the Nobel Peace Prize. In his letter to the Nobel Committee, which he shared online, Mr Netanyahu said Mr Trump had "demonstrated steadfast and exceptional dedication to promoting peace, security and stability around the world." Islamabad also said in June it would recommend Mr Trump for the prize for his work in helping to resolve a conflict between India and Pakistan. The Nobel Prizes are announced in October each year, but nominations close the previous January. If Mr Trump won the prize, he would become the fifth US president to do so after Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama.
