Israeli Army Expects Calm in Gaza to Last for Years

An Israeli soldier uses a weapon amid clashes with Palestinians in the West Bank. Reuters file photo
An Israeli soldier uses a weapon amid clashes with Palestinians in the West Bank. Reuters file photo
TT
20

Israeli Army Expects Calm in Gaza to Last for Years

An Israeli soldier uses a weapon amid clashes with Palestinians in the West Bank. Reuters file photo
An Israeli soldier uses a weapon amid clashes with Palestinians in the West Bank. Reuters file photo

The Israeli military believes that calm achieved in the Gaza Strip after the last round of fighting is estimated to last for a long time due to the Israeli army’s capacity to deter attacks from both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

A report by Israel’s Kan 11 channel said that these estimates are based on several factors, including Israel’s deterrence capacities, Hamas’ political and economic calculations in the Strip, and the Israeli army’s success in separating the Islamic Jihad from Hamas.

The report said the Army Chief of Staff, Aviv Kohavi, believes that his forces were capable of deterring Hamas during the May 2021 war, and also the Islamic Jihad following the three-day clashes that began on August 5.

Israel had then killed 49 Palestinians, including leaders in the Islamic Jihad’s affiliated al-Quds Brigades, in addition to children and women.

According to Israeli security assessments, the May 2021 war on the Gaza Strip offered economic facilities that helped Gaza's economy grow.

Hamas reportedly fears losing these civil and economic services, which Israel is now offering to Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Israel was capable of deterring the Islamic Jihad during the last round of clashes this month because the group was operating without Hamas.

Senior military and security officials said that the calm recently established in Gaza will last for a long time because Hamas is aware it will lose economic facilities in the event of a confrontation with Israel and because the Islamic Jihad will not engage in another battle without direct support from Hamas.

The Israeli channel quoted Kochavi as saying that Hamas is currently deterred from engaging in a new war with Israel while the chances of the Islamic Jihad’s acting alone against the Israeli army have become weak.

“Hamas is deterred, and we have struck the Islamic Jihad in the West Bank and Gaza,” Kochavi said, recalling that Israel launched several attacks on the Jihad’s structure in the West Bank, including the arrest of its officials and the killing of its armed members.

In a previous statement, Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev said that one of the Israeli military’s achievements during the recent military operation in the Gaza Strip is that Hamas decided not to join the fight alongside the Islamic Jihad.

He explained that Hamas’ decision is mainly due to economic reasons as the Movement desires to keep 15,000 Palestinian workers from Gaza from entering Israel daily.

Early this month, the Israeli military launched airstrikes against targets inside Gaza during which it killed Taysir al-Jabari, a top Islamic Jihad leader, and Khaled Mansour, the Islamic Jihad commander for southern Gaza.



Israel Delays Release of Palestinian Prisoners

Family members waiting for the release of Palestinian prisoners follow developments Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, after receiving news that Israel has delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners scheduled for Saturday, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Family members waiting for the release of Palestinian prisoners follow developments Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, after receiving news that Israel has delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners scheduled for Saturday, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
TT
20

Israel Delays Release of Palestinian Prisoners

Family members waiting for the release of Palestinian prisoners follow developments Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, after receiving news that Israel has delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners scheduled for Saturday, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Family members waiting for the release of Palestinian prisoners follow developments Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, after receiving news that Israel has delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners scheduled for Saturday, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Israel said early Sunday the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners is delayed “until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies” at handovers of Israeli captives in Gaza.

The statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office came as military vehicles that normally move in advance of the buses carrying prisoners left the open gates of Ofer prison, only to turn around and go back in.

The release of 620 Palestinian prisoners had been delayed for several hours and was meant to occur just after six Israeli hostages were released on Saturday. It was meant to be the largest one-day prisoner release in the Gaza ceasefire’s first phase.

Israel’s announcement abruptly put the future of the truce into further doubt.
The Palestinian Authority’s commission for prisoners’ affairs confirmed the delay “until further notice.” Associated Press video in the West Bank showed prisoners’ families, waiting outdoors in near-freezing weather, apparently dispersing. One woman was shown walking away in tears.

Five of the six hostages freed Saturday had been escorted by masked, armed militants in front of a crowd — a display that the UN and Red Cross have criticized as cruel after previous handovers.
The Israeli statement cited “ceremonies that demean the dignity of our hostages and the cynical use of the hostages for propaganda purposes.” It was likely a reference to a Hamas video showing two hostages who have yet to be released watching a handover in Gaza on Saturday and speaking under duress.
The six were the last living hostages expected to be freed under the ceasefire's first phase, with a week remaining in the initial stage. Talks on the ceasefire’s second phase are yet to start.
The six included three Israeli men seized from the Nova music festival and another taken while visiting family in southern Israel during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the 16-month war in Gaza. The two others were held for a decade after entering Gaza on their own.
Five were handed over in staged ceremonies.

The 620 Palestinian prisoners meant to be freed include 151 serving life or other sentences for attacks against Israelis. Almost 100 would be deported, according to the Palestinian prisoners' media office.
A Palestinian prisoner rights association said they include Nael Barghouti, who spent over 45 years in prison for an attack that killed an Israeli bus driver.
Also meant to be released are 445 men, 23 children aged 15 to 19, and a woman, all seized by Israeli troops in Gaza without charge during the war.