"Gaza: not a ceasefire but a reduction in attacks"…Trump's peace plan shaken

Fighting could continue like in Lebanon

U.S. government dispatches Vance to Israel

Analysts say that despite the Gaza Strip ceasefire agreement, Israel may continue attacks, and a low-intensity state of clashes similar to Lebanon could be maintained.

On the 21st, according to The Associated Press, Mona Yacoubian, head of the Middle East Program at the U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said, "Lebanon could be a model for the Gaza Strip," and analyzed that "even if the Israel Defense Forces judge there is no need to go to war again, they will leave room to attack at any time." She added, "The current situation in Lebanon is not a 'ceasefire' but a 'lessfire.'"

Israel and Lebanon signed a ceasefire agreement in November last year to halt more than a year of fighting. However, according to the U.N. peacekeeping force stationed in Lebanon, since the November ceasefire last year through this month, about 950 shells and 100 airstrikes were carried out from Israel toward Lebanon. Israel said it carried out necessary attacks, saying it targeted equipment that would be used to rebuild terrorists.

The Associated Press analyzed that "although it is not a full resumption of combat like the current situation in Lebanon, a state of clashes could be maintained in the Gaza Strip as well." Indeed, on the 19th, nine days after agreeing to a first-stage ceasefire with Hamas, Israel carried out airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, accusing the Palestinian militant group Hamas of violating the ceasefire agreement.

As the Gaza Strip ceasefire agreement faltered, Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner visited Israel on the 20th (local time). On the 21st, J.D. Vance, U.S. Vice President (photo), arrived in Israel with his wife and is scheduled to stay for several days to meet Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel. The U.S. government is mobilizing all diplomatic efforts to prevent further clashes between Israel and Hamas and to maintain the agreement, amid a situation in which the ceasefire agreement is faltering due to armed clashes in Rafah, the southernmost area of the Gaza Strip.

Israel and Hamas are clashing over delays in the return of the bodies of Israeli hostages, a provision of the first-stage ceasefire agreement. Hamas returned 20 surviving hostages to Israel. However, it has not specified when it will complete the return of the bodies of deceased hostages, saying that searching for remains takes time.

Reporter Kim Ju-wan kjwan@hankyung.com