1/2 #Analysis | Israel’s Two Key Goals of Hamas War Are Set to Collide

The #IDF’s desire to further harm #Hamas may contradict the effort to secure a deal for the #hostages. IDF General Staff believe if the fighting ends in two weeks, it will not be possible to meet the goals of the war. At the same time, signs of widespread #damage to Hamas' #command are increasing

There is inbuilt tension, which is only intensifying, between the two key objectives of the war in the #Gaza Strip. #Israel wishes to strip #Hamas of its organizational and military #capabilities, but at the same time wants to create the conditions for releasing the civilians and soldiers held captive by Hamas. The IDF claims that it can achieve both goals, and that the more time it has to increase the military pressure on Hamas, the better the chances that Hamas will show some flexibility in #negotiations over the release of hostages.

Given that, the army’s general staff realizes that time is now a critical element. There are growing reservations in the West about the large number of deaths of #Palestinian #civilians in the IDF’s ground offensive, with increasing American pressure on Israel to limit operations in the northern Gaza Strip soon, in a matter of weeks.

So far, the ground offensive has been conducted at a relatively slow pace, in an attempt to minimize risks to IDF forces. Now that regimental battle teams are operating in the heart of #GazaCity and around central Hamas #headquarters, there is an attempt to maximize military a#chievements before the IDF is required to stop.

The debate is not just about the timing of setting a limit on the ground offensive in the northern Gaza Strip, but about the possibility of a temporary #ceasefire allowing a release of #hostages.

At the other end of the spectrum of positions within the defense establishment is the person responsible for captives and missing persons, Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon. He is in charge of a new center, established at the beginning of the war. #Alon is the most senior person there (and not the earlier-appointed Maj. Gen. (res.) Gal #Hirsch, who has been removed from any operational role). Alon attends all the war #cabinet meetings. Under him are thousands of intelligence and operations personnel from the IDF and other agencies, focusing exclusively on the efforts to bring the hostages home. The key person in charge of these negotiations, working in coordination with Alon and answering to the prime minister, is #Mossad chief David #Barnea.

Soon, the two main efforts could collide. Politicians may have to decide how to proceed, while the army worries that it will be stopped, for the sake of a deal, and then find it harder to resume the attacks at the level of force required to hit Hamas. The veteran security affairs analyst David #Ignatius reported in the #Washington Post on Saturday that a hostage deal was taking shape with the mediation of #Qatar. This will involve the release of over 100 people, including #Thai workers, tourists, #Israelis with dual #citizenship, as well as #women and #children, in exchange for a similar number of #Palestinian #women and #minors who are imprisoned in Israel for security offenses.

Ignatius said that negotiations are stuck for now since Israel is demanding that Hamas first release the hostages it holds. A further complication stems from the fact that some of the hostages are held by other organizations, including Islamic# Jihad and a #militia called the #Shabiha, a previously unknown group. Qatari sources told Ignatius that efforts to locate all the hostages would take at least three days. The Qataris presented a specious Hamas argument according to which its members kidnapped only IDF soldiers, with the rest abducted by thousands of Gazan residents who entered #communities along the border.

According to the Washington Post story, Qatar is having difficulties communicating with senior Hamas officials in order to advance the deal. At the beginning of the war, there were indirect talks with Hamas leaders living outside Gaza, most of them in Qatar. However, Israeli bombing disrupted cellphone reception in the Gaza Strip. Whereas previously, every proposal was answered within two to three hours, at present, this can take up to 48 hours.

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