The UN Security Council yesterday evening approved the US draft resolution supporting the ceasefire plan in Gaza announced by Joe Biden, inviting Hamas to accept it. The text, to respond to the requests of several countries who wanted Israel to also be mentioned, “urges both parties to fully implement the terms of the plan without delay and without conditions”. The draft was approved with 14 votes in favor and Russia abstaining. The Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, explaining Moscow's decision to abstain during Monday's vote, said (lying) that “council members were asked to approve a proposal that they had not seen in its entirety.” . He added that members were told that Israel accepted the proposal, while Netanyahu repeatedly insisted that the war will continue until Hamas is defeated, implying that the latter was at odds with the proposal put forward by Biden .
The American president invited Hamas “to demonstrate that it really wants a truce by accepting the agreement proposed in the United States plan, approved by the United Nations.” Then Biden again on Hamas says it wants a truce and this agreement is an opportunity to show that they are serious.” After the vote, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: “Today we sent a clear message to Hamas: accept this ceasefire agreement Israel has already accepted, and the fighting could stop today. Today we voted for peace. The United States will help ensure that Israel lives up to its obligations if Hamas accepts the agreement, and today we also reaffirm our commitment to the two-state vision.”
According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed his commitment to a ceasefire proposal in Gaza: «Last night I met with Prime Minister Netanyahu and he reaffirmed his commitment to of the proposal”.
And what will Hamas do now? An official of the jihadist group told Reuters that Hamas has accepted the UN ceasefire resolution and is ready to negotiate on the details. However, be careful not to fall into yet another trap of the Palestinian jihadists because their tactic is always to play on multiple tables; if the so-called political wing sometimes appears conciliatory, the military one represented by Yaya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, hidden for eight months underground in the Gaza Strip, does not intend to give in and surrender. On Monday evening, the Wall Street Journal revealed chilling correspondence between Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his close associates in the terrorist organization. For months, Sinwar has refused to accept a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal that does not include a complete end to the war and the IDF's withdrawal from Gaza, conditions that would leave Hamas in power and able to regroup, allowing the group to keep the promise to repeat the massacres of October 7th. According to the WSJ, behind this refusal is the calculation that more fighting and more Palestinian civilian deaths will benefit him. The WSJ noted that, in dozens of messages, Sinwar displayed a cold disregard for human life, making clear that he believes Israel has more to lose from the war than Hamas. The messages were shared by multiple people with different opinions on Sinwar. In a recent message to Hamas officials trying to broker a prisoner exchange deal, Sinwar wrote: “We have the Israelis right where we want them.”
In another message to Hamas leaders in Doha, Sinwar described civilian deaths in Gaza as “necessary sacrifices. We only make news with blood. No blood, no news.” Sinwar also promised his aides that “Israel's trip to Rafah will not be a walk in the park.” In an April 11 letter to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh that saw the deaths of his three sons, Sinwar wrote that “those deaths and others breathe life into the veins of this nation, pushing it to achieve its glory and honor.” Sinwar also admitted that during the October 7 massacre “things got out of control” and referring to terrorists and civilians in Gaza who took women and children hostage, he wrote: “People got caught up in this and It shouldn't have happened.” Regardless, even without a lasting truce, Sinwar believes Netanyahu has few options other than occupying Gaza and getting bogged down for months or years in the fight against a Hamas-led insurgency. But how deep is the difference of views between the two Hamas factions?
While we're talking about assassins and war criminals, the WSJ also noted that, according to Arab officials who spoke to Hamas, the militants' political leadership began distancing itself from Sinwar in November, claiming he hadn't informed them beforehand. of the October 7, 2023 attacks. In early December, those political leaders began meeting with other Palestinian factions to discuss a post-war plan, but Sinwar was excluded from the talks. As soon as Yaya Sinwar learned of the meetings behind his back, he defined them as «shameful and outrageous. As long as the fighters remain standing and we have not lost the war, such contacts should be stopped immediately. We have the capabilities to continue fighting for months! He subsequently sent a series of messages in which he urged the Hamas political group not to make concessions in the settlement negotiations, instead insisting on an end to the war, in order to put pressure on Israel. Sinwar then wrote: “I am willing to die fighting”, comparing the war in Gaza to the one in which Mohammed was killed and then concluding: “We must continue on the path we have started”. If he is determined to die in the tunnels taking with him the last hostages, the “political” leaders who live like nabobs abroad don't even think about giving up their villas and the billions of dollars stolen so far. Ismail Hanyeh and his companions will try in every way to resist and could even abandon Sinwar and Deif to their fate as criminals always do when their backs are against the wall.
