It is hardly surprising that the ceasefire agreement of January 19 between Israel and Hamas is not taking off. Hamas persists in its refusal to release over 59 Israeli hostages still in its captivity.
Observers say Hamas is a barbarian organisation. It has had little space for the values, such as pluralism and peaceful social coexistence, that are cherished in modern civilisation. Its central ideology continues to be rooted in its goal of destroying Israel, killing its Jewish inhabitants and imposing Sharia rule in the entire sphere of its influence.
According to a report, in October 2023, Hamas had about 30,000 operatives divided into five regional brigades, 24 battalions, and a host of specialised units. It was armed with an array of weapons, including up to 30,000 rockets. The observers say that in the war Israel launched against Hamas in the wake of what the latter did in October 2023, the terror group has, no doubt, lost much of its military infrastructure . But Hamas is not out. It is regrouping very fast. It has already recruited over 15,000 fighters in the recent past. Besides, large swaths of the Hamas-built tunnels are still intact in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has done well to relaunch its ground operations with its full force against Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip. Israel must intensify its operations and obliterate Hamas. The Jewish State would do well at this stage not to release any of the Palestinian prisoners who are serving life sentences for murder and other serious offences. Such elements, if released, are likely to join the Hamas fighters in their future war against Israel.
Israel must bear in mind that it would be naïve to trust Hamas and be oblivious to its past behaviour. Hamas might claim in its interactions with the Western world that it is for a Palestinian state living in peace alongside Israel. But, in practice, it has always sought to control the whole of Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
Also, Israel must constantly keep in mind that the entire Palestine project has been fake. There had never been any entity called ‘Palestine’. Once, all of Israel was being occupied by the Ottomans. The British ceded 76 per cent of their Palestine Mandate to Trans-Jordan.
The observers add Israel today would do well to rope in moderate Arab states and reach out to the common Gazans. For too long, the masses in the Gaza Strip have lived like slaves. Under the rule of Hamas, they never had access to an atmosphere for their development.
Fortunately, US President Donald J Trump’s’ Gaza relocation plan is now gaining acceptance in the region. The Trump proposal states that the Gazans may be shifted from the Gaza Strip to neighbouring Egypt and Jordan, and the United States take the region for the development needed to make it worth- living. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has reportedly agreed to temporarily host half a million Gazans.
