Why did Netanyahu agree to the first phase of the ceasefire?
In his analytical article published in the newspaper Rai al-Youm, Abdul-Bari Atwan wrote: The real reason that led to the ceasefire, the relative withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip, and the exchange of living and dead Zionist prisoners with Palestinian prisoners can be summarized in the “golden phrase” of US President Donald Trump in his last press conference. Trump said, “I told Netanyahu that Israel cannot fight the whole world that is now against it.”
He added: Trump’s statement is a clear admission that, firstly, Israel no longer has the power to wage and continue this war, and secondly, its allies in the West, led by the United States, are unable to enter and defend this war against the whole world.
Atwan referred to the genocidal war against the Gaza Strip and the response of the Palestinian resistance and wrote: Israel entered a two-year war with a resistance that was not at its level and size in terms of strength and weapons, but had a strong will to fight. Israel did not win this war. Although Israel may have achieved some military victories, it failed politically (lost the world) and suffered military losses, especially in the areas of manpower and intelligence.
Continuing his article, he considered Netanyahu’s attempt to breathe and escape from internal conflicts and strengthen his domestic political and military front after the extensive losses inflicted on it, achieving an achievement, albeit small, given the defeat on seven fronts, the failure of the Israeli regime to neutralize the threat of Hezbollah in Lebanon and its failure to disarm it, and the continued presence and attrition operations of the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli regime’s army in the Gaza Strip, among the reasons that forced the Israeli prime minister to accept the first phase of the ceasefire agreement and move quickly towards its implementation.
Atwan also emphasized: The coming days require the vigilance of the resistance brigades because the enemy is treacherous and the US President and his government have the greatest complicity and conspiracy with this occupying enemy and its genocidal war. There may not be a second or third phase of the ceasefire, or even a continuation of the ceasefire and the continuation of aid flows to the Gaza Strip, which would mean that the crisis would become more complex. But what is certain is that the resistance will continue and will spread to the West Bank, and the Yemeni model of support and assistance for the Gaza Strip will be repeated on other fronts.