Despite successive statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, the war on Gaza will continue for a long time until its goals of eliminating Hamas’ ability to rule and fight are achieved.
The Israeli officials claim that the army needs many weeks and perhaps months to move from the second stage to the third stage.
However experts point out it has become clear that the political and military leaderships in Israel have yielded to the American administration and have effectively begun the process of shortening the war and reducing its size, time, and extent.
Israel's leaders are doing exactly that in accordance with "Washington's advice, which was formulated as an action plan in the meetings conducted by the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, Charles Brown, during their visit to Tel Aviv two weeks ago.
The US Secretary of Defense held meetings with the Israeli War Command Council and the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army.
According to the leaks, the Israeli side was bargaining for two weeks to prolong the war and requested that the transition from the second to the third phase begin in the middle of this month, but the American decision requested that the withdrawal begin immediately and that it be completed in the middle of this month, and it agreed to postpone the start of the withdrawal from Khan Yunis only, for two weeks.