Article author:
Associated Press
Tia Goldenberg and Emily Rhodes
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel's caretaker prime minister has taken a gamble in a preemptive strike against Islamic jihadists in Gaza.
More than three months before running for general elections to keep his job, Yair Lapid hoped that Gaza's militant Hamas rulers would not join the fight. While avoiding full-scale escalation, Israel was able to undermine Hamas' small sister group and earn him political points ahead of the polls.
Three days of violence. Later, with the ceasefire between the two sides held on Monday, the calculations appeared to have been accurate.
Israeli jets hit Gaza targets, killed two Islamic Jihad leaders in targeted attacks, and Israeli missile shields were fired by Islamic Jihad. Hamas remained on the sidelines as it intercepted most of the hundreds of rockets that were launched.
Long-suffering Gaza civilians once again bore the brunt of the violence, killing 43 of his Palestinians, including 15 children and 4 of his women. Israel said some were victims of falling rockets.
The Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, which took effect late Sunday, ended his one of the shortest rounds of fighting since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. Israel and Hamas have endured a suffocating Israeli-Egyptian border blockade by more than two million Gazans who have fought his four wars over the past 15 years.
Since the last war in May 2021, Lapid and his governing partner, his Naftali Bennett, have been working more to keep Hamas quiet along the Gaza border. I've been trying to create an incentive for Consolidate control of extremists.
As part of this strategy, Israel issued permits for her 12,000 Gaza workers to enter Israel, promising to distribute more if the situation stabilized. Qatar and Egypt are also working to rebuild Gaza, with support from Israel.
On Monday morning, Israel partially reopened Gaza checkpoints that had been closed during the fighting, signaling a swift return to pre-fight agreements.
Some say Rapid earned political points at his home in a short military campaign.
"Rapid is in a much stronger position than before. The main allegation against him is that he is not experienced enough," said the Hebrew University political analyst Gail Tarsir said. "He could be argued to be attempting to achieve a paradigm shift underpinning Israel's Gaza policy." A centrist, Rapid lacked the security credentials Israelis often look for in their leaders.
By Monday morning, Rapid had defeated what he said was an imminent threat from Palestinian militant groups.
"This is crucial to his campaign," said veteran Israeli political correspondent Tal Schneider. "It helps if you run for office and have more military experience."
Events over the past few days have also highlighted a shift in Hamas' priorities as it focuses on governing and maintaining power. .
“Hamas does not want war every other day.
Israeli work permits have been devastated by widespread destruction and movement restrictions during years of Israeli strikes.
Hossam Al-Dajani, a political scientist at the Islamic University of Gaza, said the permit "will allow Hamas to rule Gaza and assume governance responsibility." It's definitely very important for Hamas because it owes it," he said.
Meanwhile, Rapid suggests another policy shift.
During the fighting, Rapid has refrained from mentioning Hamas.Netanyahu claimed that Hamas was responsible for the fires that started from Gaza. The Rapid Bennett government, however, responded to all manner of fires from Gaza, including incendiary bombs. And Rapid appears to be ahead of self-proclaimed security buff Netanyahu. Netanyahu's strategy was primarily to strike Gaza in response to rocket attacks. Rapid opted for a first strike in recent rounds, citing a specific threat from Islamic Jihad.
"This government has a zero-tolerance policy against attempted attacks of any kind from Gaza into Israeli territory," Rapid said at the start of operations Friday. .
Rapid was the architect of the outgoing coalition — an alliance of eight diverse political parties across Israel's political spectrum, united largely by a common antipathy to Netanyahu.
} For the first time in Israel's history, a coalition government that also includes an Arab party has ended the 12-year rule of Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister. His Yesh Atid party is expected to be his second largest in parliament in the November elections, and he could get a chance to form a government.
Unlike Netanyahu, who served in the elite forces of Israel's forced military in the late 1960s, Rapid was a soldier and journalist for a weekly magazine published by the Israeli army. As prime minister, Netanyahu has led Israel through three wars with Gaza, ramped up campaigns to strike enemy targets in Syria, and rattled sabers with Iran over Iran's nuclear program.
Rapid rose to prominence for his commitment to addressing the issue of living standards, becoming a mainstream, secular middle-class hero, with his telegenic vibe and shekel I was fascinated by his pledge to stretch the They cared little about his unheroic military service.
But one of the reasons Lapid has been unable to advance to other constituencies is that he has little background in security. During his tenure in government, he served as Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign Affairs, gaining valuable skills in politics, governance and diplomacy, but was unable to gain experience in security.
In the weeks following the attack, Netanyahu will likely seek to dismantle what Israel sees as a military achievement. But after dragging Israel into his three much more costly wars in Gaza and failing to keep rockets out of Gaza during more than a decade in power, Netanyahu may not succeed. not.
``Rapid could argue that the policies he led with Bennett were more effective than those of the man who was trying to replace him in the Prime Minister's Office.'' Columnist Anshel Pfeffer writes: Daily Harletts.
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Rose reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Fares Akram contributed to this report from Gaza City, Gaza Strip.
