US calls for post-conflict approach as Gaza ceasefire nears | news
A US official says Hamas has recruited almost as many fighters as it has lost during Israel’s war on Gaza.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas has recruited almost as many new fighters as it lost in the 16-month-long war with Israel.
Washington’s top diplomat made the claim during a speech on Tuesday in which he reiterated the Biden administration’s stance that Hamas cannot be defeated by “military operations alone.”
The comments come amid hopes that a ceasefire agreement is close. However, post-conflict plans remain unclear amid complex and competing ambitions.
“Without a clear alternative, a post-conflict plan, and a credible political horizon for the Palestinians, Hamas, or something similarly nefarious and dangerous, will rise back,” Blinken told the Atlantic Council think tank.
“This is exactly what has been happening in northern Gaza since October 7. Every time Israel completes its military operations and withdraws, Hamas terrorists regroup and reemerge because there is nothing else to fill the void. “This is a recipe for perpetual rebellion and perpetual war.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that “complete victory” over Hamas and the destruction of the armed group is a key goal of his country’s war in Gaza.
However, analysts and even Israeli military officials and politicians have questioned the likelihood of achieving that goal.
Last month, Yair Golan, a former member of parliament and current chairman of Israel’s Democrats, said the war should end “with a political settlement.”
post-struggle sadness
Speaking on the ongoing talks, Blinken said, “I am confident that we will achieve a ceasefire”.
On Tuesday, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid al-Ansari said negotiations to end the conflict were in their final stages, while cautioning against holding too many expectations until an official announcement was made.
The ceasefire agreement is believed to involve three phases, including a halt to hostilities and an exchange of Israeli detainees and Palestinian prisoners.
The final phase is understood to include discussions on an alternative government to Hamas and a plan to rebuild Gaza, which has been devastated.
However, the plans are vague. The Palestinians, Arab states and Israel still need to agree on a vision for post-war Gaza.
Blinken said Washington was of the view that the Palestinian Authority should invite international partners to “help establish and run an interim administration for the enclave.”
Meanwhile, Israel will need security guarantees and billions of dollars for reconstruction.
“A ceasefire is a prerequisite for peace, but it is not peace,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said Wednesday, speaking at the annual meeting of the global coalition for the implementation of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ,
“We now need to move towards a two-state solution. And since one of the two states exists, which is Israel, we need to create the other state, which is Palestine,” he said.
