Trump's Envoys in Israel: Plenty of Talk but Silence on Gaza's Future.
Thhese days showcase a very unusual situation: the first-ever US parade of the caretakers. They vary in their qualifications and attributes, but they all possess the common mission – to avert an Israeli infringement, or even devastation, of the fragile truce. After the hostilities concluded, there have been scant days without at least one of the former president's delegates on the scene. Just this past week featured the arrival of a senior advisor, Steve Witkoff, JD Vance and a political figure – all coming to carry out their assignments.
Israel keeps them busy. In just a few short period it initiated a set of strikes in Gaza after the killings of two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops – leading, based on accounts, in many of local injuries. Multiple leaders called for a renewal of the fighting, and the Knesset enacted a initial decision to annex the occupied territories. The US response was somewhere between “no” and “hell no.”
But in more than one sense, the US leadership appears more focused on upholding the existing, uneasy phase of the ceasefire than on progressing to the subsequent: the rebuilding of Gaza. Concerning this, it appears the United States may have goals but no tangible plans.
Currently, it remains uncertain at what point the planned global governing body will actually take power, and the similar is true for the designated security force – or even the identity of its soldiers. On a recent day, Vance said the US would not impose the membership of the international force on Israel. But if Benjamin Netanyahu’s government keeps to reject multiple options – as it acted with the Ankara's proposal this week – what follows? There is also the reverse point: who will determine whether the units preferred by Israel are even willing in the mission?
The question of the duration it will need to demilitarize Hamas is equally vague. “Our hope in the leadership is that the international security force is will now take the lead in demilitarizing Hamas,” remarked Vance this week. “That’s going to take a period.” The former president only emphasized the ambiguity, saying in an interview recently that there is no “hard” schedule for Hamas to disarm. So, hypothetically, the unidentified elements of this not yet established international force could arrive in the territory while the organization's fighters continue to hold power. Would they be confronting a leadership or a guerrilla movement? These are just a few of the concerns surfacing. Others might ask what the verdict will be for everyday residents under current conditions, with the group continuing to target its own adversaries and dissidents.
Current developments have yet again underscored the gaps of Israeli reporting on both sides of the Gaza border. Each source strives to scrutinize each potential angle of Hamas’s infractions of the truce. And, in general, the fact that Hamas has been delaying the repatriation of the bodies of slain Israeli hostages has monopolized the headlines.
Conversely, coverage of non-combatant deaths in Gaza caused by Israeli strikes has received little attention – if any. Take the Israeli retaliatory actions in the wake of Sunday’s Rafah incident, in which two troops were lost. While Gaza’s officials claimed 44 fatalities, Israeli media analysts complained about the “moderate answer,” which targeted only facilities.
That is not new. Over the past few days, Gaza’s media office alleged Israel of infringing the peace with the group multiple occasions after the agreement began, killing 38 individuals and harming another many more. The assertion appeared irrelevant to the majority of Israeli news programmes – it was merely absent. Even reports that eleven members of a local household were lost their lives by Israeli forces recently.
Gaza’s civil defence agency reported the group had been seeking to go back to their dwelling in the a Gaza City neighbourhood of Gaza City when the transport they were in was fired upon for allegedly going over the “boundary” that demarcates areas under Israeli army command. This limit is invisible to the ordinary view and appears just on charts and in government records – sometimes not accessible to ordinary people in the area.
Yet that occurrence scarcely received a reference in Israeli media. One source referred to it in passing on its website, quoting an Israeli military official who explained that after a questionable vehicle was spotted, soldiers fired cautionary rounds towards it, “but the vehicle persisted to move toward the troops in a manner that created an imminent danger to them. The troops engaged to eliminate the danger, in accordance with the agreement.” No casualties were reported.
With this narrative, it is understandable many Israeli citizens believe the group exclusively is to at fault for breaking the peace. That view risks prompting demands for a stronger strategy in Gaza.
Eventually – maybe in the near future – it will no longer be sufficient for US envoys to act as supervisors, advising Israel what to avoid. They will {have to|need