Israel has pulled tanks out of some Gaza City districts.AP
Israel pulled tanks out of some Gaza City districts as it announced plans to cut back on troop numbers. However,fighting has continued elsewhere in the Palestinian enclave along with intense bombardment. Israel also signalled a in its offensive,with an official saying the military would draw down forces inside Gaza this month and shift to a months-long phase of more localised “mopping up” operations. The troop reduction would allow some reservists to return to civilian life,shoring up Israel’s,and free up units in case of a wider conflict in the north with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Hints of a lowered tempo in Gaza came as the US Navy aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford sailed home after deployment to the eastern Mediterranean following the outbreak of hostilities.
The war was triggered by a surprise Hamas attack on Israeli towns on October 7 that Israel said killed 1200 people. About 170 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza said Israel’s offensive has killed nearly 22,000 people.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s critics have linked the failure to stop the shock incursion to his policy of passing along funds from Qatar to appease Hamas and the now-debunked concept that the terror group had been deterred by previous rounds of fighting.
Announcing the change of tactics,Netanyahu predicted the war would take “many more months” to end. He also remained bullish in the face of opinion polls showing his government is broadly unpopular due to the conflict and his attempt to reduce the power of judges in favour of politicians on legislative matters. The Israeli leader,who is also on trial on corruption charges,said he had no plans to resign and indicated he intended to remain in power once the war was over.
It is not the first time many Israelis have lost faith in a wartime leader. The Hamas attack coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. That 1973 conflict lasted just 19 days,but the supposedly invincible Israel army was caught by surprise that time too. Public outrage at the scapegoating of career military officials for political leaders’ mistakes saw Golda Meir resign as prime minister,and paved the way for the election of Israel’s first right-wing government led by Menachem Begin two years later.
Netanyahu’s resistance to a two-state solution and historic refusal to “make peace by talking with your enemies” suggests he would find it difficult to be part of the inevitable negotiations that will take place when words replace weapons.
Turning on Hezbollah would widen the conflict. Nobody wants that. But Israel’s change of tactics suggests a line has perhaps developed between Netanyahu’s tough talk and the reality imposed on Israel’s war effort by economics and world opinion.
Australia has consistently supported Israel’s right to defend itself but not blindly. Before Christmas,much to Israel’s annoyance,we joined 153 nations to vote in favour of the ceasefire resolution at the United Nations General Assembly with 10 voting against and 23 abstaining.
With the Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong expected to visit Israel around the middle of the month,Australia now has the opportunity to play the honest broker and urge a ceasefire and advocate the pursuit of a two-state solution in which Israel and a future Palestinian state coexist,in peace and security,within internationally recognised borders.
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