fighting the war as if there are no negotiations, and
negotiating as if there is no war
Avi Melamed
It is dangerous to be found in the company of God's enemies
Operation Iron Swords
October 2023
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Wars generally end with one side accepting that it has lost. So long as neither side gives up, then the war goes on.
US President Donald Trump is a real estate investor, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was the one who convinced the US president that Gaza had great potential due to its location in the eastern Mediterranean. Trump proposed 26 January 2025 a plan to “cleanse” Gaza, saying he wanted Egypt and Jordan to accept Palestinians from the strip in order to bring peace to the Middle East. The plan had been endorsed and called for by outgoing Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Trump described Gaza as a "devastated place".
"We are talking about 1.5 million people to cleanse the entire area. As you know, over the centuries, this area has seen many conflicts. I don't know, but something has to happen," he continued. Trump said the transfer of Gaza residents could be "temporary or long-term," adding, "It's a place that's literally destroyed right now, everything is destroyed and people are dying there." He continued "So, I would prefer to reach out to a number of Arab countries and build housing in a different place where they might be able to live in peace".
Trump's statements about deporting the residents of the Gaza Strip to neighboring countries attracted great political attention, as they came a week after the ceasefire agreement in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian resistance movements in the Strip. Trump made his controversial remarks while on board his plane on a domestic flight, telling reporters that he had informed Jordanian King Abdullah II during a phone call of his desire for Jordan to host Palestinians from Gaza, and he also confirmed his intention to request the same from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Mustafa Barghouti described Trump's statements as dangerous and a call for ethnic cleansing, noting that Trump wants to use political pressure to implement what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to do during the war. Barghouti considered that what Trump said is completely similar to Netanyahu's plan to deport Palestinians in Gaza. In response to the expectations of some politicians who said that Trump made his statements between joking and seriousness, Barghouti confirmed that the fates of peoples are not a subject for joking.
Barghouti expressed his belief that the US administration's talk about the destruction of Gaza and linking its reconstruction to the displacement of its residents falls within the context of "blackmailing the Palestinians to impose political arrangements on them," and concluded that the return of Gaza's displaced people to the north means the failure of Netanyahu's goal of ethnic cleansing.
In turn, Israeli Channel 12 quoted "high-level" Israeli sources as saying that "Trump's statement is not a slip of the tongue, but rather part of a broader move than it appears, and a plan being circulated in the White House and the US State Department," while Israeli far-right ministers do not hide their support for the idea of en masse displacement of the Palestinian people from Gaza.
The writer specializing in Israeli affairs, Ihab Jabareen, believes that Trump's statements are completely within an Israeli plan, referring in this context to previous statements by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich before October 7, 2023. According to Jabareen, Smotrich leads a real lobby inside the United States, and said at the time that the Palestinians had three solutions: leave, be killed, or submit to “Jewish supremacy.”
For his part, Thomas Warrick, a former US State Department official for Middle East affairs, considered Trump's statements to be part of a test of the waters. The former American official expressed his belief that there is no possibility of implementing the idea of ??expelling and displacing Palestinians from Gaza.
The resigned Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, congratulated Trump's plan to "cleanse" Gaza, saying, "I congratulate President Trump on his initiative to transfer the population from Gaza to Jordan and Egypt." Ben-Gvir added that one of his demands "from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to encourage voluntary immigration." The extremist minister considered that when "the president of the world's largest power proposes the voluntary migration of Palestinians, it is wise for our government to encourage and implement it."
For his part, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that "the idea of helping the residents of Gaza find other places to start a new life is a great idea," adding that he would work with Netanyahu and the cabinet to ensure that the idea of large numbers leaving Gaza to neighboring countries is implemented.
Iran was the main backer and primary arms supplier to Hezbollah and groups with which it had common interests, such as Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, and other armed groups in Iraq and Syria. Hezbollah and Israel had exchanged fire almost daily since the war between Israel and Hamas (designated a terrorist organization in the United States and other countries) began in the Gaza Strip on October 7.
Israel and Hamas agreed 15 January 2025 to a ceasefire to halt the devastating 15-month war in Gaza. However, it was iitially unclear when a ceasefire would start as Israel continued its attacks on the Gaza Strip. Hamas told Al Jazeera that the group’s delegation delivered its approval of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement to mediators. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says a ceasefire deal in Gaza has not been finalised but suggests final details could be resolved in the coming hours.
Qatar, Egypt and the United States announced that mediation efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza had succeeded. Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani made the announcement, saying that the deal will lead to the release of Israeli captives and surging humanitarian aid to Gaza.
There wuld be a vote in the Israeli security cabinet on this deal when it is announced in order to ratify it and approve it on the Israeli side. But there were still some obstacles for Benjamin Netanyahu. That was who on the far-right of his coalition is going to agree and who was going to vote against it. There were ministers who said they would leave the government, they would topple the coalition, if this deal went into place. The prime minister’s office is releasing statements that they’re not willing to give up on certain issues including the Philadelphi Corridor.
Israeli prime minister’s full statement: “Due to the strong insistence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas folded on its last-minute demand to change the deployment of IDF forces in the Philadelphi Corridor. However, several items in the framework have yet to be finalised; we hope that the details will be finalised tonight.”
Pressure by the United States seemed to have finally pushed Israel into accepting a ceasefire deal in Gaza. “The Israelis finally realised that they are not going to get a better deal, that they must go along with this. American pressure finally seems to have pushed them over the edge. Whether this is going to mean a permanent stop in fighting was yet to be seen.
The agreement provides for:
- Ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, partial withdrawal of the IDF and return of local residents to the north of the region.
- Gaza to receive 600 trucks with humanitarian aid .
- Hamas to release 33 captured Israelis in stages. The ceasefire agreement, in its first phase, includes Hamas releasing 33 of the 98 living Israeli hostages, including women, children, men over the age of fifty, the sick and the wounded.
- Israel, in turn, will release 30 Palestinian prisoners for each kidnapped person and 50 for each female soldier.
Hamas had by 03 January 2025 been able to shoot rockets at Israel for eight days in a row. The people living near Gaza were reporting living in fear as sirens go off several times daily, reminding them of the traumatic events of October 7th. Some 83% have returned, but every day was a struggle.
Data from an IDF intelligence survey, leaked from the Knesset's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, reealed that Hamas still had at its disposal about 9,000 terrorists in organized frameworks and a similar number of individuals who were active without a structured organizational hierarchy. The recruitment rate of young militants for the military wing currently exceeded the rate at which the IDF was eradicating the frameworks.
Haaretz reported 03 January 2025 "In the southern section of the Strip a plan exists to integrate into governance two local hamulas (clans), most of whose sources of income are criminal. A discussion is taking place about whether individuals connected to the PA and Fatah should be made part of these bodies, above the clans. "
A field commander in the Palestinian resistance factions revealed 11 January 2025 the reasons behind the escalation of military operations against the Israeli army that has penetrated the northern Gaza Strip , despite the passage of 3 months since its ongoing ground operation in the governorate. The field commander said, in a special interview with Al Jazeera Net, that the resistance fighters had arranged their ranks for a long confrontation with the Israeli army forces before the start of the ground operation in early October, after the occupation spoke at length about its intention to implement what is known as the “ generals’ plan ” that aims to displace the residents of northern Gaza.
According to the field commander, the resistance fighters move in small groups, and carefully seize their targets, ensuring the greatest possible losses among the occupation soldiers, and benefiting from the weapons and equipment they possess for a longer period. The source added to Al Jazeera Net, "The occupation soldiers believed, after many days of fighting and the demolition of entire residential blocks over the heads of those inside, that they had eliminated the resistance, and that they could move freely without it posing a danger to their lives, but they were surprised when the resistance fighters emerged from where they did not expect."
He stressed that the resistance fighters exploited the massive destruction caused by the Israeli army in northern Gaza to their advantage and were able to easily uncover the occupation's mechanisms and the movements of the soldiers and pounce on them. "The combat doctrine of the fighters in the field does not know in its dictionary surrender to the enemy, and they continue their fight until the last breath." The field commander stressed that the resistance fighters are the "sons of the land" into which the occupation army is penetrating and they know its details well, and they have trained for direct confrontation face to face, which the occupation soldiers are not capable of.
He pointed out that the Israeli army thought that its mission would be easier in the northern Gaza Strip this time, due to its repeated entry into several areas in the governorate since the beginning of the aggression, but it was surprised by the resistance’s reorganization of its ranks and the development of a plan for its priorities, at a time when the occupation soldiers lack direct combat experience, and they are not prepared for a long field confrontation with the resistance.
The field commander stated that the fighters of the various resistance factions engaged in joint operations, unifying field efforts and achieving the greatest possible benefit from the military equipment they possess. He noted that the occupation soldiers are only able to kill women and children, and they escape their field failures by showing off the destruction of homes and service institutions.
The pace of operations by Palestinian resistance factions against the occupation forces in the northern Gaza Strip increased in recent days, with more than 40 Israeli officers and soldiers killed and dozens wounded since the start of the ground invasion of the northern Gaza Strip on October 5, according to what the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Friday, which said that 10 soldiers were killed in the last two weeks in Beit Hanoun alone.
In the same context, the Hebrew website "Sirogim" stated that "barrel bombs made from army remnants of ammunition and missiles have become the greatest threat to the forces operating in the Gaza Strip, as they are transformed into deadly bombs within a short period."
In a comprehensive analysis of field developments in the Gaza Strip, military and strategic expert, Colonel Hatem Al-Falahi, confirmed that the continued launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip reflects the failure of the Israeli military strategy, despite unlimited international support. His comment came - during the military analysis segment - in response to the activation of sirens in the Kerem Shalom area and the city of Sderot and its surroundings, following the launching of rockets from the southern Gaza Strip.
Al-Falahi explained - in his analysis - that this development comes in the context of the ongoing negotiations in Doha , where all parties seek to demonstrate their available strengths. The military expert pointed out that the continued launching of rockets after more than 15 months of war confirms that the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) still possesses great military capabilities, explaining that this sends a clear message that the resistance factions were taking into account the possibility of the battle continuing for a long time.
Regarding the military operations in the northern Gaza Strip, Al-Falahi stressed that the continuation of the resistance in this region, despite the Israeli operation that has been ongoing for about 100 days, proves Israel's failure to achieve its military goals. He added that the war, despite the great capabilities available to the occupation army and the American and Western support, could not break the will of the Palestinian resistance.
Netanyahu had previously refused to pledge to stop the fighting before eliminating the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), but he recently changed his tone and said that reaching a comprehensive or interim agreement had become necessary.
The health authorities in Gaza announced, on 19 January 2025, the death toll in the Palestinian Strip, since the outbreak of the war on October 7, 2023. At least 46,913 Palestinians were killed and 110,750 injured, the health authorities in the Strip said.
Outgoing military chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said on 21 January 2025 that Israeli forces had killed “20,000 Hamas operatives” during 15 months of war in Gaza. “The military wing of Hamas has been severely impacted,” Halevi said during a televised address hours after he announced his resignation, putting the number of eliminated "Hamas operatives” at 20,000. Amid accusations of concealing the true toll, the Israeli army admitted that 841 soldiers were killed and 5,656 others were injured as a result of the war in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 26 September 2025 said his country "must finish the job" against Hamas in Gaza in a defiant speech at the UN General Assembly. Netanyahu denied that a genocide was under way in the Palestinian territory, days after UN investigators accused Israel of committing just that. The Israeli PM claimed Israel was applying more measures to minimise civilian casualties "than any military in history". He cited a study claiming only one in two Gaza fatalities is a non-combatant. Independent studies had found that civilians make up as many as 15 of every 16 people killed by Israel in Gaza. The Guardian revealed in August 2025 that internal data from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) indicated a civilian death toll of 83% between the outbreak of war in October 2023 and May 2025.
Gaza’s Government Media Office on 27 September 2025 slammed Israel for misleading the Palestinian people with threats to evacuate to the central and southern governorates by portraying them as “safe humanitarian zones”, while continuing to strike those same areas. According to a statement, 1,903 people have been killed in 133 attacks on central and southern Gaza since the forced displacement from Gaza City began on August 11, some 46 percent of all reported deaths across the enclave during that period. The office said that this shows civilians are being directly targeted, despite being told to move south, and called on the international community to intervene, warning that continued global inaction amounts to a “green light” for further massacres.
Hamas said that it has not received United States President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan, even as Trump this week repeatedly expressed optimism that a deal is close. In comments to reporters, Trump said, “It’s looking like we have a deal on Gaza.” He offered no details and gave no timetable. Israel has not yet made any public response to Trump’s comments.
Trump's 21-point plan creates a pathway to a Palestinian state, something consistently and vehemently opposed by Israel, and a future road map for Gaza. The plan — seen by several media outlets — demands the release of the 20 living hostages remaining in Gaza and a number of those already deceased, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinians being held in Israel. This should happen within 48 hours of an agreement being struck. "Once all the hostages have been released, Israel will release 250 prisoners serving life sentences plus 1,700 Gazans detained after October 7. For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 deceased Gazans," the Washington Post reported.
The plan also demands the removal of Hamas — recognized as a terrorist organization by the German government, the EU, the US and some Arab states — from power and a commitment from it to disarm, reform of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and a promise from Israel not to launch further attacks on Qatar, which has attempted to act as a mediating force in the conflict.
Other points include: Gaza receiving an economic plan for growth, a security guarantee for Gaza enforced by the US and regional powers, and the chance for people who have left the area to return, while no one currently in Gaza will be forced to leave. All Hamas fighters who lay down their arms will be granted amnesty and free passage from the Strip. Under the plan, Gaza would initially be run by a transitional government with former Hamas members either to stay and commit to the new plan or be allowed safe passage to other, seemingly unnamed, countries.
In addition, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) must halt all operations immediately upon an agreement and hand over any captured territories. Israel must also promise not to occupy or annex Gaza. A Commission of Inquiry under the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) found earlier this month that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians. There are also planned guarantees about aid from international agencies being able to reach Gaza unimpeded by either side, though there is no mention of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the US.
Some reports suggest that Tony Blair — who is far from universally popular in the Middle East because of his support for the 2003 US invasion of Iraq — will serve as head of the Gaza International Transitional Authority under the plan. GITA could be in control for several years until the Palestinian Authority is evaluated as having met the necessary conditions.
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