Netanyahu defies Trump again and quarantines ceasefire with “powerful attacks” against Hamas in Gaza

The plan was based on an idea that was already being carried out by the Administration Biden and which, basically, involved the delivery of weapons to Hamas and its disappearance from the political and social life of Gaza in exchange for a powerful Arab investment and the establishment of a provisional Government that could, over time, lead to a Palestinian State.

Both things were inadmissible for both parties. They had been during the Biden years and they had been before the October 7 attacks. One of the main problems is that Hamas doesn’t care about the Palestinian state at all. Hamas is a militia supported by Iran, Qatar y Türkiye with the aim of destabilizing Israel and whose objective is not to liberate any country or return any refugees, but simply to sow chaos against the West according to orders, above all, from Tehran and Doha.

In fact, it is impossible to separate the attacks themselves from the diplomatic negotiations that seemed to lead to the recognition of the State of Israel by Saudi Arabiagreat enemy of Iran and Qatar. The hundreds of Israeli deaths on October 7, 2023 were nothing more than a macabre decoy for the Government of Tel Aviv reacted excessively, international public opinion would condemn its excess and, consequently, the Arab countries would not be able to continue approaching the Jewish State diplomatically.

As a practically millenarian organization, whose kingdom is not of this world, negotiating with Hamas is impossible. You can try, but what has happened is happening: far from handing over weapons and facilitating the establishment of a consensual Government, they have dedicated the days of the ceasefire to internal reprisals, public executions, haggling over the delivery of the remaining bodies of the hostages and the usual “retail” of attacks and guerrilla war, the last of them in Rafah last Monday, against members of the FDI.

Netanyahu’s reasons

All of this could be overlooked given the evident inequality of forces, the fact that the international community now seems focused on the continuity of the process and the unwavering support of USA and its president, the main guarantor of the agreement. Now, the problem is that Netanyahu doesn’t want this peace either. Much less his ultra-Orthodox partners, who directly ask him for the annexation of Gaza and the West Bank and their inclusion again as part of the State of Israel.

Netanyahu does not want a strong Administration in Gaza. In fact, for years he looked the other way—he himself has acknowledged it—at Qatar’s financing of Hamas, considering that this fueled disunity within the Palestinian movement and weakened Mahmud Abbas already Fatah. If the Strip remains in uncontrollable hands for Israel, with its own army, no matter how much the United States directs it in principle, sooner or later, the Palestinian State will take shape… and that is something that Israeli society, for the most part, does not accept. It is not just a matter of Likud.

This is nothing new for Donald Trump nor for its Administration. Trump already suffered these back-and-forths with Netanyahu during his first term and never denied the enormous displeasure caused by Netanyahu’s double language. Bibi. Perhaps if the Israeli prime minister had not made the gigantic mistake of attacking Doha, things would not have accelerated so much, but that was the final straw for the White House.

Trump forced him to apologize personally to the emir of Qatar from the Oval Office itself and did not give him the option of refusing any of the twenty points of his plan.

At the first mistake of the United States

Now, Trump knew there were going to be problems. That is why he went in person to Egypt to sign the agreements. For this reason, as soon as things became minimally complicated, and in anticipation of not repeating what happened in February of this year, when a first truce was blown up, he sent his vice president J.D. Vance as a companion of the special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law and key player in the Abraham Accords, Jared Kushner.

Although Vance insisted that his trip was not intended to check that the Israelis fulfilled their part of the agreement, the truth is that he always gave that impression… and the fact that the Kneeling approving the annexation of Israeli settler settlements in the West Bank was considered a full-blown provocation. A provocation that Vance did not take particularly well, it must be said.

Coincidence or not, the truth is that it was enough for the US Government’s attention to focus for a moment on another geopolitical issue – President Trump is traveling through the Asia-Pacific, where he will meet on Thursday with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinpingto negotiate a trade deal regarding “rare earths”—for Netanyahu to have terminated the ceasefire, citing the delay in the handover of the hostages and the Hamas skirmishes in Rafah as the main reasons.

Is the truce over?

The decision to resume the “powerful attacks” on the Strip to eliminate what remains of Hamas leaves the same doubts as always: to what extent are they focused only on the militants of the terrorist group and to what extent are they not a collective punishment?

The Gazans find themselves between the jihadists’ rock and a hard place due to the bombings, which have been going on for two years without having done much good: if Hamas is still active and 90% of the hostages have been freed thanks to the various truces that the United States has negotiated, what is the use of these attacks?

As can be seen, it is no longer a moral or international legality problem – that too – but purely practical: even supported by the highest Western and Arab authorities, Netanyahu continues to feel that his only option, like that of the surrounded scorpion, is to throw stings left and right.

According to sources consulted by the portal Axiosalthough the prime minister’s intention was to notify Trump to give him the “green light”, in the end “events were precipitated.” In other words: he completely dispensed with American permission.

This will now once again force the White House to position itself in favor of its ally – after all, it is true, it is Hamas who has failed to comply – or read the card – the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize is at stake – for not having enough patience and acting unilaterally. The key probably lies in the Arab countries. Even in the worst moments of the conflict, with hundreds of deaths daily and starving children who were denied help, nor United Arab Emirates in Bahrain They broke diplomatic relations with Israel.

Nor was there a challenge to the West on the part of the Arab League a from OPECas has happened on other occasions. Now, patience can run out at any moment and, without the Arab countries, there is no peace, no reconstruction, no Nobel Prize, no nothing.