A possible Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire deal is unlikely to change the war in Gaza, expert says
As citizens on both sides of the conflict brace for the potential agreement of a US-brokered proposal to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Palestinians in Gaza are unlikely to find similar respite if that deal is signed, according to a regional analyst.
A possible Hezbollah-Israel agreement “means nothing for Gaza,” HA Hellyer, a senior associate fellow in security studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, told CNN.
“I don’t think the conclusion of any deal with regards to Lebanon is likely to make one in Gaza more likely,” Hellyer said, adding that there haven’t been substantial ceasefire negotiations in Gaza for a long time.
“There have always been hostage negotiations,” he said, noting that those are the only negotiations Israel appears interested in.
More than 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began over a year ago, according to the health ministry in the territory. Arab states, the United Nations and aid groups have repeatedly called for an end to Israel’s offensive, which has displaced almost all of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people and flattened entire neighborhoods.
However, a senior US official last week told CNN that a deal with Hezbollah would “send a signal to Hamas” that Israel and its partners will do their utmost to secure an agreement that brings back hostages held in Gaza.
“If we have a Lebanon deal, we’re going to come down like a ton of bricks on Hamas to try to get a hostage deal,” the US official said, adding that Israel needs “to turn this military success… into a strategic success.”
Remember: The United States last week vetoed another UN Security Council resolution that called for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, arguing that it did not sufficiently link that ceasefire to the immediate release of the hostages in the territory.
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