The hostage deal to which Israel agreed is an important step on the way to bringing the boys home – and this time it is mothers, children and newborns. Unfortunately, the homes of many of them were destroyed in the murderous Hamas attack, and some of the family members did not survive either. But the abductees will return to the bosom of their people, who receive them with a warm and loving embrace.
Returning them home is the least that the state – which abandoned them to their fate and did not provide them with protection and security – can do for them. This is an obvious step, which enjoys broad support in public opinion. Therefore, we must lip synching at the concessions involved in this deal and the tailwind it may give Hamas, and move on.
But obviously the question arises - where now? As far as Hamas is concerned, the answer is clear: a permanent ceasefire and the end of the current round of confrontation rolled over to me, while Hamas continues to maintain its rule in the Gaza Strip – both in the southern Gaza Strip, where our forces did not operate, and in the future, with the IDF's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, also in Gaza City and its environs.
This, apparently, is the logic that guided Yahya Sinwar to agree to the deal. He is indeed a murderous psychopath, for whom human life, including the lives of Gazans, does not raise or decrease. Nonetheless, Sinwar has an organized plan of action and goals that he seeks to achieve. First and foremost, to emerge victorious, and for our purposes, as the survivor, he and his organization, in the Israeli offensive designed to bring about the elimination of Hamas and its expulsion from Gaza. The survival of his organization – even if at the cost of destroying the Gaza Strip and the deaths of thousands of its residents – is, therefore, the picture of victory he seeks.
Sinwar's account, and that of Qatar, acting on his behalf and on his behalf, is simple: they are building on a dynamic that will develop on the ground, in which a lull in the fighting, negotiations over upcoming deals, increasing international pressure and fatigue on the Israeli side will lead to a permanent ceasefire and the IDF's withdrawal from Gaza. If this is Sinwar's logic and this is his goal, then Israel must do everything so that he does not succeed.
The hostage deal comes at a time when the IDF is on the verge of winning the battle. Despite early fears, the military operation is proceeding well and achieving its goals. Gaza City has been surrounded on all sides, and IDF forces are taking it over. Military and government spokesmen promised that the IDF would continue into the southern Gaza Strip as well, and that when that happened, Hamas' ability to operate as an organized military force, as opposed to lone wolf terrorism, would be eliminated, and that its government systems, through which it controls the Gaza Strip, would collapse. However, on the verge of a decision, there is growing concern that it will fall out of our hands.
Too many times in the recent and distant past, Israel came to the brink of victory, stopping at the last minute, five minutes before 12 o'clock. I remember David Ben-Gurion's statement at the end of the War of Independence about the "cry for generations" – the government's decision to reject the proposal he brought before it to launch a military operation aimed at liberating Jerusalem and conquering Judea and Samaria.
Military and government spokesmen promised that the IDF would continue into the southern Gaza Strip as well, and that when that happened, Hamas' ability to operate as an organized military force, as opposed to lone wolf terrorism, would be eliminated, and that its government systems, through which it controls the Gaza Strip, would collapse. However, on the verge of a decision, there is growing concern that it will fall out of our hands
Israel, as is well known, ended the War of Independence without taking control of Judea and Samaria and, incidentally, the Gaza Strip, which it could have conquered in the final stages of the war. The same was true in the Yom Kippur War, in which we stopped, under American pressure, before the Third Army, which was surrounded by our forces, was defeated and surrendered. In doing so, we allowed Egypt to celebrate a "victory" that did not exist among the people of Israel. Finally, this was also the case in the Second Lebanon War, in which the fire was stopped while Hezbollah was at a disadvantage in front of us and suffered heavy losses and damage.
Some see the war being waged in Gaza as a "war of independence and revival" of our generation, since it may determine our fate in the region for the next 75 years. Precisely for this reason, we must not stop for a moment before a decision is made and before the goals of the war are achieved, which alone will guarantee us security and return Israel to the path on which it was on the eve of October 7.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us