The truce in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, brokered for the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, will delay the IDF's operations for anywhere from four to nine days, depending on how many hostages Hamas releases. Israeli experts expect the ceasefire to end, the battle for control of Gaza City will resume and will last from a week to 10 days.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, wherever it exists. Israel assumes that the group's most important leaders, Yeha Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, as well as thousands of fighters and possibly a sizable number of Israeli hostages, are somewhere in the south.
With most of the Gaza Strip's estimated 2.2 million people now crammed into the south-two-third, many of them homeless and traumatized, is an even greater humanitarian catastrophe looming? Hundreds of Palestinian civilians huddled in tents and living in the sand of a place called Mawasi may have been one of the last straws. The United Nations** says conditions there are already desperate, with thousands of people living in schools, hospitals, and some even in tents. Rains in early winter have already caused flooding, making things worse. There are already eight refugee camps in the Gaza Strip that have evolved into bustling, overcrowded towns over the decades. The United Nations does not want to be responsible for building another refugee camp.
Israel** says Hamas is to blame. They say that Mahwasi is an area that the Israeli army has promised not to attack. "It's going to be bad, but they're going to live. The IDF spokesman said.
For Israel, this is a military necessity. We will not give up until we occupy Gaza City. But as Palestinian civilians say, these are only temporary, and they will return. Because this is where their faith lies.
Thousands of years of strife, as long as it involves a matter of faith, will never die.