Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel struck a defiant tone as he marked 100 days of war against Hamas in Gaza, vowing to keep fighting despite growing uncertainty about the outcome, international alarm over the growing loss of life in the enclave and fears of a broader regional conflagration. .
His vow to continue until “total victory” came even as Israel awaited a decision from the world’s highest court on a possible injunction against the devastating military offensive in Gaza. Launched in retaliation for the deadly Hamas-led attack on October 7, the Israeli army’s war against Hamas has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to Gaza health officials, and displaced the most of the population of the enclave.
Warning of a protracted conflict, Netanyahu’s statements and comments from the Israeli military over the weekend exposed a growing dissonance between the domestic perception of the moment and the goals of the war and the growing international impatience with a worsening humanitarian crisis. deep in Gaza.
The United States, Israel’s most important ally, has urged Israel to scale back its campaign, while many other countries have called for an immediate ceasefire.
“We will continue the war until the end, until complete victory, until we achieve all our objectives,” Netanyahu declared in a televised news conference Saturday night, saying that “eliminating Hamas, returning all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel,” were the objectives.
“No one will stop us, not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil, not anyone else,” he added. The Hague is where the United Nations’ top court hears accusations brought by South Africa that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The court’s judges heard two days of hearings last week and will now decide whether to ask Israel to take interim measures, such as ceasing fighting, while it assesses the merit of the genocide charge. No date has been set for the announcement of that decision, and in any case the court has few means to enforce its rulings.
Netanyahu at the same time invoked Iran and its proxies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, whose military actions in solidarity, they say, with the Palestinians in Gaza have raised the specter of a broader conflict.
The United States led airstrikes on Thursday and Friday against sites in Yemen controlled by the Houthi militia, in response to more than two dozen Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea since November. However, the Houthis retained much of their ability to fire missiles and drones, according to US officials.
At the same time, clashes along the Israel-Lebanon border continued over the weekend.
An anti-tank missile launched from Lebanon on Sunday hit a house in northern Israel, killing a farmer and his mother, according to initial reports. Israel’s military said its warplanes attacked Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and that its forces had engaged in a gunfight overnight with gunmen who crossed into Israeli-controlled territory from Lebanon. Three gunmen were killed and five soldiers were wounded, the army said.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have been evacuated from the country’s northern border areas, and Israel has warned that it will resort to military action if diplomatic efforts to allow their safe return home do not bear fruit. Thousands of Lebanese civilians have also fled the border area.
On Sunday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah struck a tone of defiance. “After 99 days,” he said, “we are ready for war. We are not afraid of him.”
For now, Israel’s leaders say they are focusing on Gaza.
Although on Sunday Netanyahu acknowledged that the war “It will still take many months,” His comments the night before appeared to be as focused on boosting domestic morale as countering international criticism of the military campaign.
Addressing skeptics who have called the Israeli government’s goal of destroying Hamas, the armed group that has controlled Gaza for 16 years, unrealistic, he said: “It is possible, it is necessary and we will do it.”
As the death toll in Gaza rises, international calls for a ceasefire are growing. The fighting has displaced most of the enclave’s population of 2.2 million people and the United Nations has warned that half the population is at risk of starvation.
“The mass death, destruction, displacement, hunger, loss and pain of the last 100 days are staining our shared humanity,” said Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees. said in a statement.
Rajab al-Sindawi, a 48-year-old man from Gaza City, said he, his wife and seven children were sheltering in a nylon tent on a sidewalk in Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan neighborhood and fighting for keep warm during the night. because they only had a few blankets.
“Nothing is fair in Gaza,” al-Sindawi said in a text message. “My family lacks the basic things that one needs in life.”
Al-Sindawi and his family arrived in Rafah in early January after weeks of roaming Gaza in search of safety.
Israel’s leaders have continued to talk about what comes next largely in opaque military terms that have at times increased friction with both their critics and allies.
Reflecting one such potential area of tension, Israel is under pressure to rescind its evacuation orders in Gaza. But Netanyahu said displaced Palestinians from northern Gaza would not be able to return to their homes anytime soon because it would not be safe for them. Although the Israeli military has said it is reducing its operations in the north, its forces continue to clash with Hamas fighters there.
Gabi Siboni, an Israeli colonel in the reserves who is a fellow at the conservative Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said it would be “illogical” to allow displaced Gazans to return to the north. Israeli troops are still working to destroy Hamas’ underground tunnels, and Colonel Siboni said blowing up the tunnels risked collapsing buildings along the route. Hamas fighters could also try to mix with the returning civilian population, he added, and “then we will be back to square one.”
Despite the large-scale death and destruction in Gaza, Fuad Khuffash, an analyst close to Hamas, insisted that the armed group was winning the war. “Hamas continues to fire rockets, continues to confront and kill soldiers and continues to destroy tanks,” said Khuffash, who is based in Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Referring to the cost to the people of Gaza, Khuffash said that “anyone in the world who wants to liberate their country must make a sacrifice.”
And “as for Israel,” he said, “it has not achieved any of its objectives: it has not finished off Hamas, it has not taken away its weapons, it has not killed the top Hamas leaders in Gaza and it has not eliminated Hamas. She did not bring back the Israeli prisoners. In military and political terms, Hamas has achieved a victory.”
In a televised statement Saturday night, the Israeli army chief of staff said plans had been approved to continue fighting and increase pressure on Hamas, which would lead to the group’s dismantling and the return of hostages who were taken. taken in October. 7. assault on Israel.
“These objectives are complex to achieve and will take a long time,” said Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, urging patience.
Of the 240 people abducted from Israel to Gaza on October 7, more than 130 remain in the enclave, according to Israeli officials, although not all are believed to be alive.
In Israel, public concern about the hostages has increased with each passing day.
On Sunday, a work day in Israel, universities, numerous companies, city councils and public organizations held a 100-minute work stoppage in solidarity with the hostages.
Tens of thousands of Israelis also attended a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday night in support of the hostages and their families. Dozens of protesters blocked the main intercity highway, demanding that the government ensure the immediate release of the remaining captives.
“We are deeply concerned that decision makers are not prioritizing the hostages, to bring them home alive and not in boxes,” said Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose son Sagui, 35, a U.S. citizen, was taken hostage on October 7.
Large pro-Palestinian demonstrations also took place on Saturday in London, Washington, New York and other cities to mark 100 days of war. Protesters in London chanted “Cease fire now” and carried banners reading “Gaza, stop the slaughter.” In Washington, thousands of protesters also called for an end to US military aid to Israel.
The report was contributed by Hwaida Saad, Ameera Harouda, Roni Caryn Rabin, Gabby Sobelman, Myra Noveck and Matthew Mpoke Bigg.
