These new developments in the situation in Gaza deserve attention

Xinhua News Agency, Jerusalem/Gaza, May 13 After the breakdown of the ceasefire talks in Gaza held in Egypt, Israel expanded its military operations in the Gaza city of Rafah. This has made Israel face increasing pressure at home and abroad. After the General Assembly of the United Nations passed a resolution recommending a retrial of Palestine's application for membership in the United Nations, there even appeared a dramatic scene of the representative in the United Nations smashing the United Nations Charter, outlining the confrontation and anxiety in the current Palestinian Israeli conflict.

What is the new progress of the situation in Gaza? Can cease-fire negotiations be resumed? Please see the interpretation of the reporter in front of Xinhua News Agency——

Israel: "Cake cutting" Dalava

The Israeli army continued its military operations in Rafah, the southern city of the Gaza Strip, on the 13th. A day ago, the spokesman of the Israeli Defense Forces, Ali Hagari, made a video speech saying that Israeli forces continued to carry out "precision strikes" against the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Rafah, killing dozens of Palestinian armed personnel and discovering tunnels and a large number of weapons. Hagari stressed that the Israeli army is committed to the goal of defeating Hamas and freeing all Israeli detainees.

Israel regards Rafah as Hamas's final base in the Gaza Strip, and believes that the capture of this city is crucial to the elimination of Hamas's viable forces and the release of persons detained by Palestinian armed groups. At present, the Israeli military's operations in Rafah are concentrated in the eastern region, and the way of "cake cutting" is adopted to expand the scope of attack piece by piece.

A new round of ceasefire talks on Gaza was held in Cairo from the 7th of this month. On the 9th, Israel and Hamas respectively released the news that the negotiations had broken down. During the negotiations, the Israeli army continued to carry out targeted strikes in eastern Rafah. On the 6th, the Israeli army asked residents in several areas in the east of Rafah to evacuate, and launched ground operations there to control the Gaza Strip side of Rafah crossing. The State Department of the United States subsequently repeatedly stressed that the Israeli military did not launch large-scale military operations against Rafah, and the scope of operations was "limited".

After the cease-fire talks failed, the Israeli army issued a notice again on the 11th, requiring residents in other areas in the northeast of Rafah to evacuate, and then extended the fighting to this area.

Yonathan Freeman, an expert in international relations at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, believes that Israel has three considerations in doing so. First, it shows the international community, especially the United States, that it is very careful to control civilian casualties and appeals to civilians there to leave the area before the action begins; The second is to increase pressure on Hamas to accept the agreement with Israel on the release of detainees; The third goal is to weaken Hamas's ability to acquire equipment and goods needed to continue fighting with Israel by controlling Rafah Port.

Hamas: regrouping in northern Gaza?

In addition to Rafah, Israel recently launched another air strike in the northern Gaza Strip and sent ground troops. Three months ago, Israel claimed to eliminate Hamas forces in the northern Gaza Strip. The source told Xinhua News Agency that at present, the conflict sites between the two sides mainly include the Jebaliya refugee camp and the Zaitung district of Gaza City.

According to the Israeli army, Hamas is trying to redeploy its armed forces in northern Gaza. From all signs, Hamas is gradually recovering its strength. After a period of calm, the number of rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel is increasing. The Israeli army released a war briefing on the 12th, saying that in the afternoon and evening of the 11th, the southern city of Ashkelon was successively attacked by rockets from the Gaza Strip, some of which even hit Belsheba, the hinterland of Israel.

On the 11th, the Israeli military said that forces operating in the northern Gaza Strip were preventing Hamas from rebuilding its military capability there. Daniel Hagari, spokesman of the Israeli military, told reporters, "We have seen Hamas trying to restore its military capability in Jebaliya in the past few weeks. We are conducting operations there to eliminate these attempts."

According to the report of Israel's 12th television station, the war in northern Gaza again intensified the contradiction between the Israeli government and the military. The military believes that the failure of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to formulate a "post Gaza era" plan for a long time may lead to the failure of the military's efforts. In addition, the family members of the soldiers were also very dissatisfied with the return of the Israeli army to the north.

International community: pressure Israel

The war in Gaza is ongoing, and the number of civilian casualties is huge. Therefore, Israel is facing increasing domestic and international pressure. Domestic anti war and anti-government demonstrations are increasingly frequent. Many universities around the world join the anti war wave. The International Court of Justice may issue a wanted order to Israeli leaders.

The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 12th that Egypt intended to support South Africa in prosecuting Israel to the International Court of Justice, considering the expansion of Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip and its increasing impact on Palestinian civilians. The South African government filed a lawsuit to the International Court of Justice on December 29 last year, accusing Israel of genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. Many countries and international organizations in Asia, Africa and Latin America supported South Africa in suing Israel for this.

At the United Nations, there was a tit for tat scene: on the 10th, the 10th United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution by an overwhelming majority recommending that the Security Council review Palestine's application for membership in the United Nations. After the vote, the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Gilad Aidan smashed the cover of the United Nations Charter pamphlet with a portable electric paper shredder on the spot. This practice has caused many disputes.

The United States is opposed to Israel's continuing military operations in Rafah, and even threatens to stop providing weapons. US President Biden told CNN on the 8th that if Israel attacked Rafah, the US would not provide it with weapons such as bombs. On the same day, the United States government announced that it would suspend the delivery of a batch of heavy bombs to Israel. However, Freeman, an international relations expert at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, believes that the relationship between the United States and Israel is still strong, and military aid will continue to be shipped to Israel.

Negotiation: What's the prospect?

Since the outbreak of this round of Palestinian Israeli conflict last October, the ceasefire negotiations have been carried out for many rounds, but they have repeatedly reached an impasse. Israel and Hamas respectively confirmed on the 9th that the latest round of Gaza ceasefire talks held in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, had broken down. The international community, including the United States and important countries in the region, expects to promote relevant negotiations.

In the midst of the rumbling war in Gaza, efforts to resume negotiations continue. The British based New Arab reported on the 11th that after the failure of this round of negotiations, the international community is continuing its efforts to reach an agreement on detained persons and an end to the war. Egyptian sources said that "negotiations are expected to resume in Doha in a few days".

The same day, Israeli media quoted an Israeli official who was "familiar with the details of the negotiations" as saying that "the negotiations have not yet reached a dead end". (Reporter: Lv Yingxu, Wang Zhuolun, Liu Weijian, Huang Zemin; Video: Wang Pei; Editor: Chen Dan, Diao Huilin, Wang Fengfeng, Lu Yu, Ma Xiao)