‘Will Israel last? For 1st time, the question hangs over regime’ as Gaza shows off might

A political analyst says Israel’s failure to protect the occupied territories against the missile barrages from Gaza and the heavy economic losses that the regime has suffered in the latest flare-up have, for the first time, thrown the entity’s survival into serious question.

In an interview with Press TV, Nasser Qandil, a well-known journalist and editor with the Lebanese newspaper Al-Binaa, said the confrontation with the Gaza-based resistance movements come at a time when the Israeli regime has been “in its worst position ever” both inside the occupied territories and on the regional scene.

Elaborating on the matter, Qandil said the war with Gaza followed the defeat of the ex-US administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran and the so-called “deal of the century,” which had the support of some Arab governments, the failure of Israeli normalization agreements with Arab regimes, and the unfavorable public opinion in the West toward Tel Aviv’s brutal policies.

It seems that Israel has, for the first time, entered a war that the Western states do not regard in line with their own policies, although they are committed to preventing the regime’s defeat in the confrontation with the Palestinians, Qandil said.

The commentator compared the situation in Palestine in the current war with Israel to that in the previous military confrontations.

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“This time, there is unity in entire Palestine, from Gaza to the 1948-occupied territories, al-Quds and the West Bank,” said Qandi. “In addition to a popular [pro-Palestine] uprising in the Arab world and the world community, we have seen the Palestinian resistance growing politically and the movement [advocating] negotiations on compromise [with Israel].”

The analyst said the ongoing confrontation has shown off the power of resistance groups in Gaza, which “have taken the initiative this time around.”

“Using the weakness of Israel’s deterrent power and its ‘Iron Dome’ system, the resistance’s heavy missiles carrying explosive warheads are being fired at the occupied territories in their entirety,” he said. “The areas that Israel had successfully kept safe for decades are today the target of Palestinian attacks.”

He said the regime is opening the shelters to the settlers instead of taking the fight to the other side and has suffered huge economic losses from the Palestinian raids, which have paralyzed its airports, ports and industries.

Israel frustrated by Palestinian resistance; Netanyahu seeks to fortify position: Analyst

Commentator Shobhan Saxena says Israel has been frustrated by the intense retaliatory attacks from the Palestinian resistance groups.

“For the first time, these question have arisen: Will the regime survive? Will [the occupied territories] be a safe place for living or investment,” asked the analyst.

The regime, he added, is facing an “existential threat” and it seems that embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking a regional war to save himself from the pressure he is receiving inside the regime.

The conflict broke out on May 10, when the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement in Gaza fired rockets at the Israeli-occupied territories to defend the compatriots in Jerusalem al-Quds against the regime’s atrocities.

The Israeli regime also unleashed a bloody military campaign, targeting residential areas and civilian infrastructure in the blockaded coastal enclave.

At least 213 Palestinians, including 61 children, have been killed in Gaza since the attacks began. About 1,500 Palestinians have been wounded.

Meanwhile, 12 Israelis have died, while at least 300 have been injured as a result of rocket fire from Gaza, which has overwhelmed the regime’s “Iron Dome” missile system and hits all parts of the occupied Palestinian territories.

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