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The Israeli choice on Wednesday to pause the invasion of Gaza to permit Hamas to launch some hostages, a transfer now strongly supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was the end result of a weekslong dispute amongst Israel’s civilian and army leaders about whether or not such a deal would strengthen Hamas and endanger the remaining hostages.
One group of leaders led by Yoav Gallant, the Israeli protection minister, sought to delay the cease-fire and release of 50 hostages in change for 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel due to the worry it might gradual the momentum of Israel’s invasion, enable Hamas to regroup and draw worldwide consideration away from the remaining 190 individuals held in captivity in Gaza.
One other group, which included David Barnea, the pinnacle of Mossad, Israel’s international intelligence company, who led the negotiations for Israel, argued that the deal was higher than none and that the invasion might proceed after the transient cease-fire, in response to 4 senior safety officers who spoke anonymously as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk to the information media.
The primary group initially took the higher hand, persuading Mr. Netanyahu to delay a cupboard vote initially deliberate for Nov. 14, in response to three of the officers. They hoped that extra army strain would possibly give Israel extra affect on the negotiating desk, permitting extra hostages to be freed.
However the second group finally gained out, main Mr. Netanyahu to carry the vote early Wednesday, setting the stage for a four-day truce and prisoner exchange that could begin as soon as Thursday. A senior protection official from the primary group stated that its members had modified their minds as a result of the phrases that Israel was in a position to receive within the signed deal had been considerably higher than those who existed per week in the past.
Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace, the Israeli army and the Mossad all declined to remark.
The settlement got here as Mr. Netanyahu confronted competing pressures at residence and overseas. The Biden administration has pushed him to comply with a hostage deal and a short lived truce amid rising worldwide alarm in regards to the heavy loss of life toll and humanitarian crises attributable to Israel’s 47-day bombardment and four-week invasion of Gaza.
At residence, many Israelis are livid as a result of Mr. Netanyahu’s authorities had failed to stop the Hamas assault in southern Israel on Oct. 7 that began the warfare and led to the seize of roughly 240 hostages. Some Israelis are impatient for him to rout Hamas, even when it endangers the hostages; some need him to prioritize the hostages’ rescue, even when it slows the counterattack on Hamas; and others need a hostage deal provided that it frees all of these Hamas captured final month, relatively than only a few.
Not less than 12,700 individuals have been killed in Gaza, in response to well being officers within the Hamas-controlled enclave, since Israel started strikes in response to the Hamas raid that killed an estimated 1,200 individuals, in response to Israeli officers.
Whereas Israel initially drew widespread help within the aftermath of the Hamas assaults, its worldwide companions — principally america — pushed Mr. Netanyahu to restrict the civilian loss of life toll and ease the devastation on Gaza’s remaining residents, most of whom fled their houses.
The stress inside the Israeli management displays a wider debate in Israeli society in regards to the fast priorities of the army because it responds to the Oct. 7 assaults. For a lot of Israelis, the raison d’être of the state is to guard its residents — and it failed final month, many say. How that safety ought to be restored has grow to be a matter of public dialogue.
Mr. Netanyahu and different Israeli leaders have repeatedly stated that the principle goals of Israel’s invasion are to oust Hamas from Gaza and return all of the hostages. To many Israelis, each goals serve the identical objective: the restoration of the state’s capacity to guard its residents.
However, within the quick time period, some say, the 2 goals are in battle with one another. By pushing relentlessly by way of the Gaza Strip in pursuit of Hamas, the Israeli army dangers the loss of life of hostages within the crossfire or within the Israeli bombardment. However by pausing the invasion and permitting the discharge of some hostages, the military could also be giving Hamas time to regroup.
Below the deal, the Israeli air drive would cease flying surveillance plane over southern Gaza and droop flights over the north for six hours every day — doubtlessly permitting Hamas to maneuver its forces by way of the territory with out being seen, analysts say.
“Who has the higher hand within the battle? Hamas,” stated Fuad Khuffash, a Palestinian analyst near Hamas. “Israel successfully agreed to Hamas’s circumstances,” he added.
Some Israeli protection officers worry there may be some fact to that evaluation. However Israel’s hand was compelled by a rising protest motion led by the hostages’ households that pushed Mr. Netanyahu to do extra to avoid wasting their family members, in response to Yagil Levy, a army knowledgeable on the Open College of Israel.
In current days, 1000’s of demonstrators have marched about 40 miles from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, calling on the federal government to assist free the hostages. Mr. Netanyahu could have realized that “neglecting the problem of the hostages will contribute to a widening circle of antigovernment protests,” Dr. Levy stated.
When Mr. Netanyahu got here shut final week to holding a cupboard vote on an earlier model of the cease-fire deal, Mr. Gallant and others efficiently lobbied him to delay the vote to permit the Israeli military to press on with its invasion and seize Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, amongst different targets.
Israel says the hospital conceals Hamas army infrastructure and has offered video of what it says is a tunnel main below the hospital, in addition to safety digicam footage of hostages being taken into the hospital. Hamas denies the claims.
Practically per week after the military captured Al-Shifa, nevertheless, Mr. Gallant and his allies backed the cease-fire — giving it overwhelming help on the cupboard desk — partly as a result of they believed that the choice to seize a bigger space of Gaza Metropolis had allowed Israel to assemble extra intelligence in regards to the lacking hostages, in addition to weaken Hamas additional. In Mr. Gallant’s view, that gave Israel a stronger place within the negotiations and enabled it to safe a greater deal, in response to a senior official acquainted with Mr. Gallant’s perspective.
“What led to the outcome we hope we’ll attain within the close to future is the decided, skilled, exact and lethal motion of the Israel Protection Forces,” Mr. Gallant stated within the cupboard, in response to a written transcript of his remarks offered by his ministry.
Different wavering ministers got here round to the concept of a cease-fire as a result of their authorities colleagues satisfied them that they’d help the resumption of preventing after a number of days’ pause. Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right finance minister, initially stated he wouldn’t help the deal, however modified his thoughts in the course of the cupboard assembly, in response to a recorded assertion he offered to an Israeli journalist.
To win over Mr. Smotrich and others, the cupboard formally introduced that “the preventing within the Gaza Strip will proceed” after the cease-fire.
Yaakov Peri, a former head of the Shin Guess, the Israeli inner safety service, stated Israel needed to settle for the deal.
“Each hostage that Hamas needs to return, we are able to’t refuse,” Mr. Peri stated, which gave Hamas a trump card in negotiations. Mr. Peri worries, nevertheless, that on this deal, “the prospect for mishaps is excessive.” Even a minor incident might jeopardize the cease-fire, he added.
However regardless of the federal government’s plan to proceed attacking Hamas after the cease-fire, Mr. Peri shouldn’t be sure that may occur.
“If you cease a warfare, it’s troublesome to revive the momentum,” he stated.
Ronen Bergman and Adam Sella reported from Tel Aviv, and Patrick Kingsley and Aaron Boxerman from Jerusalem. Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting from Rehovot, Israel, and Johnatan Reiss from Tel Aviv.
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