A ceasefire but now comes the hard part for Israel and Hamas

People came out of their homes in the early hours of the morning and streamed into the streets to celebrate ceasefire after 11 days of brutal strife claiming hundreds of lives and inflicting massive devastation.

But the end of the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas, at least for the time being, has left key issues unresolved, the bitter and growing enmities between the communities within Israel unrepaired, and has also exposed divisions between Western allies.

Both sides claimed victory, as was to be expected, and has been the practice in previous Gaza conflicts.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, declared “not everything is known to the public yet, nor to Hamas, but the full range of achievements will be revealed over time. I can say that we did bold and new things – if it was necessary to do a ground invasion, we would have done it, but I thought we could achieve the goal in safer ways.”

There were differing narratives about what was agreed to end the fighting.

The Israelis insisted that they have not accepted any conditions. Hamas claimed that the Netanyahu government has made important concessions in the dispute over Jerusalem, over the eviction of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood and religious tensions at Al-Aqsa mosque.

Egyptian, Qatari and UN officials have been facilitating talks between the two sides. Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, said that he had received guarantees from mediators that “the occupation will remove its hand from Sheikh Jarrah and Al-Aqsa”.

Israeli officials dismissed the claim. Benny Gantz, the defence minister, said: “The reality on the ground will determine the continuation of the campaign... quiet will be met with quiet.”

Talks will continue, it is believed, on the requirements both sides have put on the table.

These include a Hamas demand that Israel ceases targeted assassinations of its commanders, and the Israeli demand that Hamas stops building its underground tunnels, stops rocket attacks and demonstrations at the border.

Israeli officials say the decision of the country’s security cabinet on the ceasefire was unanimous and ministers were told not to talk to the media about details before final announcements were made.

But there was condemnation from a number of right-wing politicians.

open image in gallery

Gideon Saar, a former ally of Mr Netanyahu who now leads an opposition party, called the truce “embarrassing”. Itamar Ben Gvir, head of the far-right Jewish Power party, held that it was “a grave surrender to terrorism and the dictates of Hamas”.

According to Israeli and Western officials, a wide array of international leaders have been involved in delivering the ceasefire. As well as Joe Biden speaking to Mr Netanyahu four times in a week and to the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, vice-president Kamala Harris had spoken to King Abdullah of Jordan.

The UN’s Middle East special coordinator, Tor Wennesland, held talks with Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal in Qatar. The UN secretary general Antonio Guterres had spoken with a number of ministers of Arab states.

Israeli ministers and officials were claiming international diplomatic success over the conflict.

President Biden is seen to have allowed the Netanyahu government a fair amount of leeway before pressurising for a ceasefire. The US blocked a draft UN Security Council resolution on Wednesday calling for a ceasefire drafted by France, the fifth time that it had stopped the Council from issuing a statement calling for an end to hostilities. The European Union failed to pass a unanimous call for a truce.

The Israelis claimed a military victory, killing more than 150 fighters, destroying weapons caches and building capacity, as well as destroying a huge underground network of tunnels it called the “metro”.

Hamas has also claimed triumph, by surviving another Israeli military onslaught and continuing to remain in power in Gaza, with its leaders saying they will replenish their military supplies.

Hamas, it is widely believed, has also extended its influence in Palestinian politics over its rival Fatah. Crowds gathered outside the home of Mohammed Deif, the Hamas commander the Israelis had tried to and failed to assassinate again, with chants of “victory” on Friday morning.

Eran Lerman, a former deputy director of foreign policy at the National Security Council and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, held that the military reversals suffered by Hamas were of great importance.

“Let’s remember what happened in the 2006 war with Hezbollah. Our military was quite heavily criticised at the time for not performing well. But we have not had a serious conflict with them since”, said Dr Lerman, who is a reserve colonel in the army.

“After the 2014 conflict with Hamas we have had some quiet years. So maybe after this time we’ll have another five years before we have to act again.”

open image in gallery

Dr Lerman also questioned the view that Hamas influence and prestige has been increased by the conflict. “Some Palestinians may have been impressed by their initial attacks, but they couldn’t have been by the way it all ended. I think there is a simplistic Western view about Palestinian political awareness,” he said.

But Hanan Ashrawi, the veteran and internationally known Palestinian public figure, said: “There’s no doubt that the perception of Hamas as a real and effective resistance force has gone up greatly by what happened.  

“The fact that they made the struggle this time about Jerusalem rather than Gaza is also seen as them fighting for all Palestinians in this country. And, let’s face it, the Israelis have failed to defeat them once again.

“This conflict has also brought the issue of Palestine back into international attention. The international community must re-engage, otherwise these terrible conflicts will just continue to repeat themselves at such great human cost.”