‘Clearly an excuse’: Does Netanyahu really need Hamas gone?

Israel’s battle on Gaza rumbles on, at the same time as worldwide condemnation grows.

Hamas has expressed that it’s prepared for a deal to finish the battle, even providing to show over the administration of Gaza to a technocratic authorities. United Nations Safety Council members have overwhelmingly voted in favour of a ceasefire, a decision blocked from passing solely by a United States veto.

However Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is adamant in its refusal of any settlement that doesn’t embrace what it calls the “defeat of Hamas”, even when meaning endangering the Israeli captives nonetheless held in Gaza.

“Hamas is already the weakest it’s ever been, and there’s nothing they will do that’s remotely akin to what Israel possesses,” author and researcher on Israel-Palestine and founding father of The Fireplace These Instances podcast Elia Ayoub informed Al Jazeera.

“There’s ample proof by now that the one motive this genocide is ongoing is as a result of Netanyahu needs it to proceed. It’s clearly simply an excuse to maintain the battle going.”

Netanyahu is ‘reliant upon Hamas’

However why would Netanyahu need the battle – which is Israel’s longest since 1948, and is inflicting financial disaster – to proceed?

One reply is that the battle supplies a distraction from Netanyahu’s personal issues.

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister has well-documented authorized troubles; he’s being tried for corruption.

And, other than that, ought to a everlasting ceasefire be realised, some analysts imagine Israeli society will maintain Netanyahu accountable for safety shortcomings that led to October 7.

“He’s afraid as soon as it’s carried out, eyes will rightfully flip to him over corruption and the failures of October 7,” Diana Buttu, a authorized scholar and former adviser to the Palestine Liberation Group, mentioned.

And so, Netanyahu has two principal duties. The primary is to extend the battle, permitting him to proceed utilizing it as an excuse to keep away from accountability. The second is to forestall the breakup of his authorities, whereas in some way setting himself up for an additional profitable election, which should occur earlier than October 2026.

Netanyahu has been “reliant upon Hamas all through the battle”, Mairav Zonszein, an professional on Israel and Palestine for the Worldwide Disaster Group, informed Al Jazeera.

“The far proper and Netanyahu have constantly used Hamas as an excuse to not negotiate or plan for a day after,” she mentioned.

Israel’s aim has nothing to do with Hamas

The Israeli refusal to barter a remaining finish to the battle stands in stark distinction to Hamas’s willingness handy over all captives held in Gaza.

Over the past 20 months, a lot of Hamas’s management has been killed. Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political chief, was assassinated in Tehran on July 31, and Yahya Sinwar, his successor, was killed in Gaza on October 16.

Israel is now claiming it killed Sinwar’s successor and youthful brother, Mohammed, although Hamas has but to verify his loss of life.

Militarily, analysts say, Hamas is estimated to have misplaced vital power. It’s nonetheless conducting some assaults, however fewer and additional between than the ambushes it was capable of perform earlier within the battle.

In an indication that Hamas maybe understands that it’s now not ready to rule Gaza, it has additionally provided to step down from the administration of the Palestinian territory, which it has managed since 2006, and hand over to a technocratic authorities.

“The technocrat supply will not be new,” Hamzé Attar, a Luxembourg-based defence analyst from Gaza, mentioned.

“It was on the desk since earlier than the invasion of Rafah [which occurred on May 6, 2024]. They need Hamas to surrender their arms and quit every part, and Hamas has responded by saying: ‘We’re stepping apart.’”

That has been firmly rejected by Israel, which has not endorsed any imaginative and prescient for post-war Gaza.

As an alternative, over the past almost 20 months, Israel has killed greater than 54,300 Palestinians and wounded greater than 124,000 in Gaza, in accordance with the territory’s Well being Ministry.

Ethnic cleaning: The deeper aim

As well as, Gaza is now “the hungriest place on Earth”, in accordance with the UN, all its inhabitants susceptible to famine after Israel strangled support supply all through its battle, then utterly blocked it from March 2 till Could 27.

Israel has additionally turned 70 p.c of the enclave into no-go zones.

All of the whereas, Israel’s bombing of Gaza continues.

Discounting the pretext of destroying Hamas and returning the captives, some analysts imagine there’s a deeper aim: pushing Palestinians out of Gaza.

“Neither Hamas nor the hostages are the targets,” Meron Rappaport, an editor at Native Name, a Hebrew-language information website, mentioned.

“The aim is to push the folks of Gaza into only a few, small and closed areas the place meals will probably be delivered scarcely, hoping that the strain on them will get them to ask to go away the Strip.”

“Israel is now not combating Hamas,” he added.

Netanyahu mentioned in late Could that Israel would management the whole thing of Gaza by the tip of its newest offensive, whereas many overseas officers and consultants have warned both straight or implicitly that Israel’s actions quantity to ethnically cleaning Gaza.

A latest report in Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper, cited 82 p.c of Jewish Israelis supporting the expulsion of the folks in Gaza.

To take action would have a historic affect, Buttu mentioned, one which Netanyahu may really feel he can painting as defending Israel from a Palestinian state – one thing he has repeatedly promised to forestall.

“He recognises he would be the fall man or the hero,” Buttu mentioned. “If he’s the one who ethnically cleanses Gaza, he turns into the hero.”

Till that occurs, analysts imagine, Palestinians will proceed to die by the hands of the Israeli army. Hamas is the pretext and their willingness to barter or succumb is of secondary significance.

“Benjamin Netanyahu has no intention of ending this battle,” Zonszein mentioned. “It doesn’t matter what Hamas presents. They will supply to return all of the hostages or hand over governance.

“This battle goes to proceed till Netanyahu is pressured to cease it, and that may solely come from Trump.”

Further reporting by Simon Speakman Cordall