“Nerve war”: Gaza caving rest on knife cutting edge

Conflict in the Middle East

“Nerve war”: Gaza caving rest on knife cutting edge

Hamas stops the release of further hostages, then Trump announces an ultimatum and threatens Gaza with the “hell”. Now failed the laboriously achieved ceasefire and the war breaks off again?

For the time being, Islamist Hamas stops the release of other Israeli hostages, US President Donald Trump promptly puts an ultimatum to the extremists in the Gaza Strip. The agreement on the ceasefire is now on the brink. Many fear that the Gaza war flared up again. What speaks for it – and what about it.

Hamas also wants to stay in power after the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, which she triggered with her massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel, on the other hand, adheres to the war goal of completely destroying Hamas and ending her rule in the coastal strip once and for all. Because with Hamas at the helm, it is only a question of time before a new round of violence occurs.

To ensure its rule, Hamas first wants to achieve an agreement on a permanent end of the recent war. Finally, however, the impression came about that Israel delays the negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement that should achieve this. Coupled with Trump’s plan to permanently relocating around two million Gaza residents to other countries and transforming the destroyed coastal strips into a “Riviera of the Middle East”, this has massively increased the pressure on the terrorist organization.

The hostages remain the most important means of pressure from Hamas towards Israel. Many analysts see the announcement of the deletion of the release of further kidnapped as an attempt by the organization to improve their negotiating position in the upcoming discussions.

But there are also signs that Hamas could be ready to give in. A new start of the fighting would be a disaster for the suffering civilians in the Gaza Strip, many of which have just returned to their largely destroyed residential areas in the north.

The Israeli expert Avi Melamed speaks of a “nerve war” between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be forced from domestic considerations to resume the war against Hamas. Should he agree to a second phase of the ceasefire agreement, his right -wing religious coalition would probably break – because the ultra -right partners require a continuation of the fights against Hamas.

However, new elections would currently be catastrophic for the head of government. He could not afford that his coalition collapses, “if the public makes him responsible for the hostility to be captured for so long, and immediately after shocking the state of the last three released hostages,” said Melamed. A majority of Israeli believe “that he sacrificed the hostages on the altar of his rule”.

Ultimately, Israel strives for two goals that largely exclude each other: the destruction of Hamas and the release of the remaining hostages. The miserable state of the recently released hostages and reports on the cruel circumstances of the hostage show how much time is pushing. Israel assumes that 76 remaining hostages of Hamas are still alive at most.

Donald Trump’s demands for a quick hostage of hostages and a relocation of around two million Palestinians threaten to throw the agreement with a laboriously negotiated agreement for many months.

If Hamas does not release all the remaining 76 hostages by Saturday afternoon, he would be for Israel to end the ceasefire and break off the “hell”, says Trump. He threatened the US allied Jordan and Egypt with financial losses if they refuse to accept Palestinians.

Trump left open what specific consequences the Hamas would have to fear from the US side. “Hamas will find out what I mean,” he replied when asked. “These are sick people.” The decision is ultimately with Israel.

A journalist of the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” wrote that Trump’s dramatic statements could either be a turning point that leads to the rapid release of all hostages in a large deal, or a turning point that leads to the massive death of hostages and the resumption of war “.

The fact that both states give in to Trump’s claim is almost impossible. According to the Islamic scholar Simon Fuchs from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Trump’s proposal is an existential threat to the governments of the two countries.