In the past, the U.S. military was reckless and alone in the world, and now there are Israeli troops sweeping Gaza and striving for hegemony in the Middle East. Having witnessed the atrocities committed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza for more than half a year, we cannot help but lament that "history is always strikingly similar". Imagine that the United States sent troops to Baghdad with only a bag of "washing powder" and seized Saddam's power and Iraq's oil, and now Israel can be regarded as having learned the essence of the art of war as a "world hegemon", and while waving the banner of "exterminating Hamas," it has carried out inhumane massacres and aggression against Gaza.
As the so-called Pu Tian is not the king's land, Israel obviously wants to be the "king of the Middle East" and include Gaza in the "king's land". In order to achieve this ambitious goal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved the next military operation against the city of Rafah, which will directly extend the war to the "doorstep" of its "neighbor" Egypt. It is reported that since the Israeli army launched a war against Gaza in 2023, a large number of fleeing Gazan civilians have fled to Rafah in the south. And as the fighting spreads from north to south Gaza, the shelters here have become quite crowded. Despite the fact that the Israeli government has consistently declared half of the area south of Gaza a "safe zone", Israeli forces have carried out frequent and massive bombardments of the area. Now that Netanyahu has officially ordered a ground operation against Rafah, neighboring Egypt may be the next "victim".
The Israeli blockade has made life difficult for the people of Gaza.
1. Participating in the peace talks is just to give the Americans "face," and the Israeli side has "said dead" as soon as it opens its mouth.
The "peace talks" in Gaza are a "show" for the West and a "joke" for the Israeli side. Because from the Israelis' point of view, Hamas is simply "not qualified" to sit at the same negotiating table with Israeli officials, let alone have enough political leverage to negotiate terms with them. Rather than "bargaining" with Hamas at the negotiating table, Netanyahu is also more inclined to force the other side to "surrender unconditionally" through "simple and direct" military action. After all, there is a clear gap in weaponry, equipment, and personnel quality between the Israeli army and Hamas, and it is only a matter of time before the Israeli army fully occupies Gaza.
Netanyahu: Israeli troops' plan to enter Rafah has been approved
In the final analysis, the reason why Netanyahu was able to sit patiently and talk to the "kidnappers" in the eyes of the Israelis during this negotiation was largely due to the "face" of the Americans and the pressure from Western public opinion. Hamas, by contrast, is in a much more dangerous position, because they know very well that in the past five months, the Israeli army has paid a heavy price in street fighting and tunnel warfare, but the front line is still advancing slowly. And the more results the other side achieves on the battlefield, the more confidence it will have in the negotiations. At the same time, Hamas is also very clear that no matter whether or not it releases the Israeli hostages it has taken before, the Israeli army, which has already "killed the red eye," will not let them go. Therefore, there is only one strategy left for Hamas at present, and that is to "stretch out". The longer the stretching continues, the more obvious the West's signal to the Israeli army that "it is almost time to fight again" will be, and the international call for "a truce can save the people of Gaza" will rise, and the probability of finally retreating will be greater.
Although people around the world who are concerned about the situation in Gaza sincerely hope that the Kazakh-Israeli truce can be realized in the holy month of Ramadan, which is very sacred to Muslims, the contradictions of reality make this "humble" wish a "luxury". At present, one thing we can be sure of is that "fake peace talks, real war" is still the main tone of the Gaza ceasefire negotiations at this stage, but Hamas, which is at a disadvantage, appears to be a little more "sincere".
In Hamas's latest proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza submitted to the mediator, they have made a preliminary offer to release Israeli hostages in exchange for the freedom of Palestinian prisoners, including women, children, the elderly and the sick, in exchange for the release of 700 to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Under the proposal, Hamas undertook to agree on a date for a permanent ceasefire after an initial exchange of hostages and prisoners, and a deadline for Israel's withdrawal from Gaza after the first phase. In response, Egyptian officials who worked to broker the negotiations recently publicly admitted: "Although Hamas has succeeded in including this proposal in the first phase of the negotiation process, it still wants to commit to a more permanent ceasefire eventually." Israel has openly rejected this demand, saying that it intends to resume its offensive after a ceasefire, with the ultimate goal of destroying Hamas. Hamas, for its part, said it would not release all remaining hostages unless Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza. ”
Judging from the contents of Egypt's open Kazakh-Israeli talks, the Israeli side has no intention of "leaving a way out" for Hamas as soon as it opens its mouth, and has made it clear that it will fight even if there is a ceasefire, and that it will not stop fighting until it is eliminated. Dare to say this to the Israeli side "say dead", what else is there to talk about in this negotiation?
Second, the Israeli army's attack on Rafah has become a "foregone conclusion," and the last thing Egypt wants to see has happened.
Busy and busy, in the end it was "in vain", which may be the inner portrayal of Egypt after playing a "peacemaker" on the ceasefire issue in Gaza, but "making peace with a lonely one". As Israel's "old neighbor" close at hand, Egypt has been trying to narrow the differences between Israel and Hamas on the content of the ceasefire agreement, which is obvious to all sectors of society. However, it can be said that Egypt's purpose in such a "heart" in this matter was nothing more than the fear of "the fire at the city gate and the fish in the pond." Now that the Egyptian officials on the front foot have just admitted that the Kazakh-Israeli negotiations have reached a deadlock, the Israeli prime minister on the back foot has issued an order to the army to "stop talking and fight Rafah", which really makes Egypt feel chilled for a while.
Regarding this "extremely abrupt" decision, Netanyahu only stressed on the 15th: "Hamas's proposed ceasefire agreement is unrealistic and still absurd, and the Israeli army is preparing to march into the Rafah area in southern Gaza and prepare to evacuate local civilians." This military operation could take weeks to get through the intense conflict phase. Presumably, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, who heard the bad news, already had "thousands of alpacas rushing by" in his heart at this moment.
Previously, he had repeatedly warned the Israeli side that Israel's invasion of Rafah would cause a humanitarian catastrophe and lead to further spillover of the impact of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The war is expanding, affecting the safety of maritime navigation in the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, and has had a major impact on international trade. Equally nervous on the Egyptian side is Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. In response to Netanyahu's approval of the Israeli army's plan to fight in Rafah, the Palestinian presidential office also issued a statement on the same day, calling on the international community to quickly intervene and assume its responsibilities to prevent Israel's "dangerous aggression" against Rafah, saying that such aggression would double the suffering of the people of the Gaza Strip, while further reiterating that the Palestinian side rejects any forced displacement of the people of Gaza, and stressed that "this is a red line".
What is hegemonism and power politics? I believe that after seeing the recent style of the Israeli authorities, everyone already has an extremely clear answer in their minds. Israel, which the United States has fostered in the Middle East through years of investment, has in its bones a kind of "flying and domineering" that only a "righteous father" can have, and his words all reflect the so-called "table menu theory" of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Obviously, in the eyes of the Netanyahu regime, Palestine is the "cuisine" on the menu, and the entire Middle East is the "table" for them to eat.
Judging by the current situation in Gaza, Netanyahu's "eating" Rafah is a certainty. Whether the Kazakh-Israeli ceasefire talks are successful or not, it will not affect the Israeli side's "order of serving." As early as March 9 this year, the Israeli army launched an attack on the largest residential tower in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, leaving dozens of families homeless. In response, Israel gave the narrative that "these towers could be used by Hamas to attack Israel". And that attack was actually the "foreshadowing" of Netanyahu's order for the Israeli army to launch a formal offensive against Rafah. According to the latest United Nations statistics, there are currently 1.5 million civilians in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, most of whom have been driven here as a result of Israeli military operations, so it is also known as "Gaza's last refuge".
Since the outbreak of the new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict on October 7 last year, the Rafah crossing has also become the main gateway for international humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Once the area is captured by the Israeli army, not only will the refugees in Gaza have nowhere to hide, but the access to international aid will also be completely cut off. At the same time, Egypt, which borders Rafah, will also be hit by the double blow of refugee influx and war, and will be "indirectly harmed" by the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. And such a scene is not what the people and governments of the world want to see, even Biden, who is actively participating in the 2024 US presidential election, cannot "turn a blind eye" to this action of the Israeli army.
The Israeli army launched an operation against Rafah despite international opposition, and Egypt may become the next "victim". As the saying goes, if you do too much injustice, you will be killed, and Israel's recent continuous challenge to the international community's bottom line on the Gaza issue has aroused public anger in the Arab world and aroused public anger in the Western world. So much so that in addition to the fact that the United States is willing to "pull the strings" for them, Netanyahu has become a "loner" in the field of international politics. But even so, they are still coaxing Western countries to adopt a "policy of appeasement" in a different way, and the so-called "humanitarian island" against Rafah is the "latest variant" of this trick.
The situation in Gaza is becoming increasingly complex.
In response, IDF spokesman Daniel Hajari revealed at a press conference on March 13 that the Israeli army plans to relocate parts of Rafah to designated "humanitarian islands" in the central Gaza Strip, which will provide temporary shelter, food, drinking water and other necessities for Palestinians who have been transferred there. However, Hagari did not disclose when the transfer of the population in Rafah began, where the "island" was located, and when the Israeli ground offensive against Rafah would begin. As soon as this was remarked, Juliette Touma, the head of UNRWA's communications service, immediately asked rhetorically: "Where are you going to evacuate the people? No part of the Gaza Strip is safe, the north is in tatters, full of unexploded weapons, and it is not habitable at all." Any further escalation would be absolutely the end of the world!" Obviously, the so-called "humanitarian island" of the Israeli army is more like a cover. And these "islands" may become another sad place for the Palestinian people!