OTTAWA — With Hamas proving an unreliable partner in keeping the peace, prospects remain dim for the maintenance of the unsteady ceasefire in Gaza.
Joe Varner, deputy director of the Conference of Defence Associations and Senior Fellow at Macdonald-Laurier Institute, tells the Toronto Sun the deck was stacked against the ceasefire from the very beginning.
“Hamas has been in violation of the ceasefire it agreed to 72 hours after came into effect, because they didn’t return all the hostages’ remains,” he said.
“The ceasefire is broken down on that level — Hamas is refusing to disarm.”
Israel unleashed a wave of air and artillery strikes over the weekend in retaliation for the killing of two IDF soldiers by Palestinian terrorists — more evidence suggesting that Hamas, despite their return of Israel’s living hostages, isn’t keen on fulfilling their end of the American-brokered peace deal.
Over the past few days, Israeli officials said their troops dismantled six kilometres of underground terrorist infrastructure, including weapons caches and firing positions.
The question of the disarmament of Hamas — a supposed condition of Canada’s recognition of a Palestinian state — remains a key concern, Varner said.
“(Hamas) are carrying out executions of opponents in the Gaza Strip and in areas that they control now, which are not the sorts of moves you’d expect from an organization that’s going to give up governing and disarm,” he said.
“There’s high expectations for Israel to live up to the ceasefire agreement and heavy pressure from Washington — that pressure does not exist for Hamas, and Hamas are showing their true colours.”
During a news conference on Tuesday, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance remains confident the ceasefire will hold , and that they aren’t setting any firm deadlines on when Hamas is expected to disarm — but did say that Gaza reconstruction funds will not be used in areas still under Hamas control.
Varner said that despite Israel and Washington’s good faith dealing with the Palestinians, he doesn’t see the ceasefire lasting for much longer.
“The fact of the matter is, Israel is a democracy — they have the same democratic pressures from from their people that we have from ours,” he said.
“At what stage do the people basically say ‘do something about this, or else’ — and that’s the problem Washington has.”
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