Israeli forces are still fighting Palestinian in the Gaza Strip, but it doesn’t look like Tel Aviv has reached its goal of destroying Hamas, even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the International Court of Justice can’t stop Israel from winning.
In an interview with Sputnik, Dr. Lorenzo Trombetta, a Middle East expert and scholar who lives in Beirut, said that 100 days after Israel’s invasion began, “it is clear to many Israelis, and perhaps also to Netanyahu and his ministers, that this achievement”—the destruction of Hamas—”is far from being obtained.”
Dr. Trombetta said that Israel would keep up “military operations on the ground and their airstrikes in the Gaza Strip and in other parts of the region.”
Trombetta said that for the people who live in the Palestinian strip, a victory could mean that Hamas stays alive after the October 7 offensive and more than a few months. He also said that this could be a victory because the war would still be going on. If Hamas stays alive and we can have a physical presence in the Gaza Strip, this will be called a victory.
“But it could be seen in a different way by Palestinians,” he said.
He said it was not possible for the Israeli military to take “full control of the Gaza Strip” or for Egypt and other Arab states to be able to “exert that control” over the area.
He also said that the Gaza Strip probably won’t get a “new legal status” any time soon or in the “foreseeable future.” He said, “from now to one year and a half to two years, we will see a de facto hybrid scenario in Gaza Strip, something that is similar to what happened after the conflict ended, but not really something that will last for many years.”
Regarding the recent worsening of the situation in the Red Sea, Trombetta said that the strikes by the US and UK on the Houthi position in Yemen “didn’t calm down the situation,” but rather made it worse.
“It will get worse and worse because the Houthis will keep firing, and the Anglo-US-led Western coalition will keep retaliating or attacking Houthi positions. There will be no truce between the sides because the Houthis are determined to be in this conflict to show that they are here to keep their word and support Gaza and their other friends in the axis of resistance,” he said.