Is the End Near?

If it is true that Israel is nearing the fulfillment of its objectives in Gaza as has been suggested,then maybe the residents of the south of the country will have some peace and an opportunity to reshape their lives and those of theri children finally.

It is said that Hamas has sustained an unprecedented blow, however the issue of the weapons smuggling is critically important, and although UN Security Council resolution 1860 is weak and ineffective, it did recognize that there should be a stop to weapons smuggling. Thus, Israel is continuing its talks with Egypt regarding this matter.

After all the hype of Hamas leader Haniya, it appears that in the field, Hamas terrorists are fleeing from contact with Israeli troops, hiding in hospitals, some of them disguised as medical staff. Further, Hamas is concealing the extent of the damage it has sustained and is not burying its dead, so as not to lower the morale of its cadre.

More worrying for the residents of Gaza is the fact that Hamas terrorists are plundering the humanitarian aid provided by the world and placing the good of their followers above the good of the general public. Hamas is also exploiting the situation to murder Fatah supporters for political reasons. Intelligence indicates that about a tenth of those killed in the Gaza Strip are Fatah members killed by Hamas.

In parallel, Iran is doing everything in its power to support Hamas, including attempting to smuggle weapons and ammunition into the Gaza Strip. However threats have been made by Teheran that aid will cease if Hamas accepts an Egyptian brokered cease fire.

It has to be emphasized time and time again that the IDF is operating against Hamas and its personnel, and not the residents of the Gaza Strip.

While the IDF is acting against Hamas, Israel is making every effort to accelerate and improve the transfer of humanitarian aid to the civilian population but difficulties are created by Hamas, who are waging war in the midst of densely populated areas, while exploiting civilians as human shields.

Israel is continuing with its humanitarian efforts, which include a respite in operations each day for several hours, despite the fact that Hamas is exploiting these lulls to continue shooting at Israel cities and troops, as well as to re-arm and re-equip.

Let us hope for everyone’s sake, a speedy end to this chapter of conflict