No more ceasefires in near future, says ex commander of Gaza division

The former commander of the Gaza Division, Maj. Gen. (res) Israel Ziv, says the suicide attack and subsequent abduction of 2nd-Lt. Hadar Goldin of the Givati Brigade, “brought to its end” the understanding of the need for, and the will to attain, a ceasefire in the immediate future.

“I believe we will now face a new strategy by the Israeli government,” he says in an Israel Project conference call.

He says the attack proves that Hamas “is not there,” in terms of its desire for a ceasefire, and that Israel will, therefore, “have to adjust” and “to move ahead.”

Ziv, a former head of the army’s operational branch, says that the IDF “has several plans” and that while the plans may stop short of a full-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip, the army could well increase pressure on the urban areas in the days ahead.

He does not dismiss out of hand the notion of an offensive around Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where the Hamas leadership is said to be hiding, but says that the first step would likely be an ultimatum to the parties of the ceasefire talks in Cairo, to pressure Hamas to return the missing soldier without preconditions.

— Mitch Ginsburg