After half a year of fighting, this week we reached a significant milestone in the IDF's ground maneuvers in the Gaza Strip: all the forces that fought were withdrawn from Gaza, except for soldiers who remained to guard the 'Netzarim Corridor', the area separating southern and northern Gaza.
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The ordinary Israeli stands in amazement at how the fighting has subsided - and many speculations have flown into the air.
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The truth is that there are several reasons for stopping the maneuver. First and foremost, American pressure. The Americans urged the Prime Minister to give a chance to the talks that are taking place with the Gaza terror organization on the hostage deal and to "give them a card" by stopping the maneuver.
Since the beginning of the war, the Prime Minister has repeatedly opposed the demands of the American administration, but recently, due to the desire to receive support for a ground operation in Rafah, Israel has been compromising on many things it was not willing to compromise on in the past. The ground withdrawal from Gaza is also part of the compromises, which are only increasing day by day.
The Chief of Staff and the Minister of Defense explained that the forces left Khan Yunis to refresh themselves for a future entry into Rafah, but they also know that the job is not yet done. Not in Gaza and not even in Khan Yunis. In the ground maneuver in Khan Yunis, our soldiers were unable to reach all the places that were defined in advance.
But the main reason for the halt in ground fighting is because the prime minister and the cabinet are currently in a state of waiting.
After Israel made a host of proposals to Hamas regarding the 'kidnapping deal,' now, following the enormous pressure from the Americans and the families of the kidnapped, the State of Israel has made a significant compromise and offered Hamas a far-reaching offer, just to close the deal before Passover. As part of the attempt to bring Hamas to an agreement, Israel has signaled to the mediators that it is willing to freeze the ground war machine in order to reach agreements.
Meanwhile, the State of Israel awaits Hamas' response.
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Negotiations with the Gazan terrorists have been stalled for many months. As time passes, Israel is slowly creeping towards Hamas' demands. The main problem of the State of Israel is an age-old one: For decades, the leaders of the state have lived under the mistaken concept that it is possible to talk to terrorists using "Western" logic. Thus, even after the massacre in the Gaza Envelope, the state's leaders are not educated enough to understand that Arab logic is not Western logic.
Hamas makes it clear time and time again that they will not budge a millimeter from their initial positions, with the main condition being a commitment to finally end the war. The Israeli government is trying to convince itself that with one compromise or another, the terrorist organization will fold and release the hostages. In practice, the country's leaders are only playing with themselves. Every Israeli compromise and improvement in the deal proposal gives Hamas more power.
We have already seen in the past that Israeli gestures are interpreted by Hamas as surrender that fuels their stubbornness, but the prime minister and the small cabinet choose to deceive themselves - and all of us.
In Hamas's eyes, there is no point in rushing. For them, time is working solely in their favor. They see how the Americans are attacking Israel, forcing it to bring endless humanitarian aid into Gaza, alongside the aggressive pressure of Israeli left-wing organizations, who are trying with all their might to dismantle the government. For Sinwar and Co., this is exactly the time to sit on the sidelines and play on Jewish sentiment to the limit.
It's time for our leaders to understand that the Gazan terrorists have no interest in rushing to a deal and to instruct the heads of the security establishment to continue crushing Gaza, just as they did at the beginning of the war.
After decades of existence, almost every Israeli has learned that terrorist organizations in the Middle East are defeated only through massive, unceasing force. Apparently, this is still not clear to our leaders.
