By Athena Papakosta

Israel says it is prepared to continue fighting for monthss until he manages to crush Hamas which still seems to have a reserve of… resistance. For its part, Qatar – a country that has played an important role as a mediator between the two sides – says efforts for a ceasefire and the immediate release of all hostages will continue despite the fact that neither Israel nor Hamas appear to they desire such a thing.

The dead of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, which we remind you began on October 7, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, exceeds 18,200 with 2/3 of the victims being women and children. At the same time, 90% of the 2.3 million inhabitants of the Palestinian enclave have been displaced with the United Nations repeating that there is no longer any safe place for those in the area.

For its part, the United States has provided Israel with vital assistance in the past 24 hours by vetoing a UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and greenlighting the sale of tanks and related equipment with an estimated economic value of 106.5 million dollars.

Meanwhile, Israeli ground forces continue to advance into the Gaza Strip’s largest city, Khan Younis, with the Israeli military stepping up operations to call on the civilian population to move to the “humanitarian zone” in al Mawasi, a patch of land with few buildings.

According to the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, “we are at the beginning of the end of Hamas” and is calling for more of its gunmen to surrender, with the country’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallad, stating that “hundreds” have already surrendered and/or been arrested. In fact, according to the Times of Israel, the Israeli Defense Minister underlined that the Israeli army has surrounded “the last strongholds of Hamas in Jabalia and Sejaya, whose battalions were considered invisible”.

As for the next day, as Yoav Gallant explained, Israel has no intention of maintaining a permanent military presence in the Gaza Strip and remains open to engaging in consultations about which side could control the Palestinian enclave, as long as it is not hostile to Israel.

For its part, Hamas has made it clear that it is not willing to enter into negotiations for the 137 hostages it is still holding unless the alternative proposal of a cease-fire is on the table when the process of swapping the abductees for Palestinian prisoners is completed. – a fact which Israel does not want since it insists on aiming to neutralize the Islamist Palestinian organization.

According to analysts, the factors that could greatly affect the timing of a ceasefire are the possibility of an escalation in the Israel-Lebanon border area, the possibility of a disorderly flight of displaced Palestinians to Egypt or the possibility of an unprecedented pressure on the Israeli government to prioritize the release of the remaining hostages.