Zvi Yehezkeli, a Middle East affairs analyst, has urged Israel to level a significant strike against the Hamas terror group, stressing that localized responses to Hamas' violations of the ceasefire are inherently ineffective.
Speaking to i24NEWS, Yehezkeli responded to military analyst Yossi Yehoshua, who suggested that Israel should use the violations first and foremost for public diplomacy.
According to Yehoshua, “Airstrikes don’t change the balance. We need to expose the deception they pulled on us to the world. We’re not using our public diplomacy tools the way we need to be, to earn the public support we need. Now we need to see what [US President Donald] Trump says, because we're dependent on him.”
Yehezkeli questioned: “Has it ever helped us to tell the story to the world? We’re two years in, and it hasn’t worked. Israel must prepare for the second stage, in which Hamas will rearm. We have to learn what is happening. I’m not in favor of reckless escalation, and we can’t, anyways, because the Americans won’t let us. We need their approval since they’re are interested in a stable agreement that does not fall apart, and we can’t be the ones to collapse it.”
In his opinion, Israel should explore other ways to respond to Hamas, beyond isolated retaliation for specific violations.
“There are still points where we can hurt Hamas, and not just by taking territory that we likely will have to give back later,” he explained. “What about the trucks going in every day? What about targeted killings and offensive operations, and not just when they fire at us? What about neutralizing all weapons caches? Israel needs to study, now, how Hamas reacts and treats the agreement and come out stronger, and not just respond to each violation, because when you respond only to sniper fire, you are the underdog.”