As the global community urges a halt to the ongoing Israeli-Gaza armed conflict, Israel, bolstered by unwavering support from the mighty United States of America (USA) and Western Europe, is providing only brief daily respites in the form of four to six hourly ceasefires.

These pauses are aimed at facilitating the movement of beleaguered Gazans from the besieged northern region to the comparatively safer southern part of Gaza and for relief to flow into the besieged country.

But the Gaza Strip and its residents that are experiencing a devastating form of destruction reminiscent of an apocalypse, with Israel acting aggressively, in the manner that resembles a wounded lion attacking its evidently weaker neighbor for invading and killing unarmed civilians.

Owing to the ferocity of the counter attack by Israel, and the gruesome deaths of mostly innocent human beings particularly children, the world is once more on edge with protesters against the Israeli-Hamas war literally covering the surface of the earth as they marched on all the major cities around the world.

As it may be recalled on October 7, the less powerful neighboring Gaza militants- Hamas invaded Israel’s territory with the intent to harm and violate defenseless Israelis, resulting in the killing of Israelis initially estimated to be 1,400, currently scaled down to 1,200 and abduction of nearly 240 people who are still in their custody in Gaza.

Since that time which is a little over one month, a reprisal war has raged on with Israel gaining the upper hand as Hamas/Gaza/Palestinians are being literally pulverized.

In light of these atrocities, anyone with a conscience and a sense of humanity would undoubtedly call for a ceasefire, as is currently happening worldwide through street protests in both the Arab world and the Western Hemisphere as well.

Arising from the global outcry, the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, has emphasized, “Far too many Palestinians have lost their lives.”

And urged Israel to be more conscious on its targeting to prevent the alarming collateral damage being incurred via human casualties.

Additionally, during the Arab world meeting in Saudi Arabia that held last Saturday, there has been a unanimous call for a ceasefire.

However, Israel appears unyielding, connecting the plea for a ceasefire to the condition of releasing approximately 240 Israelis allegedly held as hostages by Gaza fighters.

To comply with the global call for a ceasefire, according to Prime Minister Netanyahu, would be akin to surrendering to terrorism.

“The war is moving forward with force that Hamas has never seen,” Netanyahu proclaimed in a vigorous address commemorating a month since the invasion.

“There will not be a ceasefire without the return of our kidnapped.” The Israeli prisoners are probably detained in a sophisticated network of underground tunnels, assumed to resemble the intricate overhead bridges in Los Angeles, California, USA, commonly referred to as ‘spaghetti’ due to the complex interweaving of roads above and below each other.

This network of tunnel in Gaza is believed to be impregnable.

As such the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) may find it challenging to access these locations easily, making it difficult to rescue Israeli citizens.

Therefore, opting for negotiations over sheer force appears to be the most viable approach to ensuring the safe return of Israeli hostages after a ceasefire has been implemented.

In an apparent effort to exert public pressure on the Israeli leadership, Hamas, or Islamic jihadist fighters in Gaza, seem to be employing a psychological approach.

This is evident in a video featuring Israeli hostages, a 70-year-old and a 13-year-old, who are urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cooperate with their captors.

The hostages warned that if they were harmed, the responsibility would lie with the prime minister.

This tactic underscores a shift toward psychological warfare by the abductors rather than conventional military strategies.

That move by Hamas is obviously aimed at softening the heart of PM Netanyahu, particularly following the emotional outpouring from the Israeli public, especially the family members of the kidnapped, whose emotions would be heightened by the distress call in the video clip.

It is yet to be established if that strategy would work as envisaged by Hamas, or conversely, if it may become a justification for Israel to intensify its military onslaught on Gaza.

That notion is underscored by the fact that the IDF, may get fired up to redouble efforts to rescue the hostages after watching the contents of the video, making the prospect of storming Gaza to rescue the unfortunate 240 Israelis abducted more urgent.

In light of the extremely delicate circumstances surrounding the recent hostage situation, the daring commando raid on Entebbe airport in Uganda, east Africa in 1976 comes to mind as a poignant reference point.

This historic event, which occurred in 1976, involved the rescue of hostages from a passenger plane en route from Israel that had been hijacked by Palestinian terrorists.

The memory of this heroic operation may cast a significant shadow on the minds of Israelis who lived through it and on the global consciousness as a whole.

Recalling the renowned Entebbe raid staged by Israel on July 3–4, 1976, as highlighted by Britannica.com, seems relevant at this point.

The event involved the rescue of 103 hostages from a hijacked French jet airliner en route from Israel to France.

The airliner was hijacked on June 27 after stopping in Athens by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Red Army Faction, a West German radical leftist group.

The plane was then flown to Entebbe, Uganda, where additional accomplices joined the hijackers.

At Entebbe, the hijackers selectively released 258 passengers who were not identified as Israeli or Jewish while keeping the remainder hostage.

Their demand for the release of 53 militants imprisoned in Israel, Kenya, West Germany, and other locations added a complex layer to the crisis.

In response to this dire situation, Israel took swift and decisive action. On July 3, they deployed four Hercules C-130H cargo planes, each carrying 100–200 soldiers, escorted by Phantom jet fighters.

Covering a distance of approximately 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from Israel to Uganda, the Israeli force executed a meticulously planned rescue mission.

Within an hour of landing, they successfully liberated the hostages, showcasing the effectiveness of their strategic and operational prowess.

All seven militants were neutralized, and 11 MiG fighters, provided to Uganda by the Soviet Union, were obliterated.

The Israeli forces incurred the loss of one soldier and three hostages during the operation.

On their way back, the Israeli planes rendezvoused with a waiting hospital plane and refueled in Nairobi, Kenya.

The success of the Entebbe raid significantly bolstered Israeli morale.

However, it’s crucial to acknowledge that this event occurred approximately 47 years ago, and the global landscape has undergone significant transformations since 1976.

The current hostages are not as visibly situated as the airline hostages were in 1976; instead, they are likely held in the earlier referenced intricate and concealed underground tunnels scattered throughout the Gaza Strip.

In light of the evolving situation, countries like the US and European nations supporting Israel are facing significant criticism from their citizens for their unwavering endorsement of what some view as the dehumanizing treatment of Palestinians, potentially amounting to war crimes.

This backlash is exacerbated by the stark power asymmetry between Israel, a financially and militarily dominant nation, and the impoverished and fledging Hamas/Gaza, the victim of its military operations.

As a counter force to that psychological warfare of whipping up sentiments by Hamas against Israel, damning information has been released by Israel and her allies (the US and European countries) indicating that a three-year old American baby is amongst the Americans taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 after killing the parents.

Somehow, that revelation about the American lad in captivity may temper the anger against Israel and her Western backers in the war as evidenced by the street marches reminiscent of Black Lives Matter, BLM, which rocked the world in 2020 after the unfortunate killing of a black man, Mr. George Floyd, by a white police officer in Minnesota, USA.

Regarding the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza due to the actions of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), UN Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, expressed her concerns, especially in the context of the introduction of the daily 4-6 hour battle pause.

“Think of what it may have felt for the [people] trapped in Gaza, Palestinians [and] hostages alike, especially the children, to be bombed incessantly night and day for 33 days. Not even a few hours of respite.”

In light of Israel’s mission to clear civilians from the northern part of Gaza and dismantle infrastructure suspected to be operational bases for Hamas, with the goal of completely eliminating what it considers a terrorist group, the military campaign currently underway is being prosecuted without mercy, which is why the very grim optics has ignited expressions of indignation and outrage by men and women of goodwill across the world.

During this operation, following the unmitigated damage inflicted on both lives and infrastructure triggering public condemnation, Israel has commenced implementing a daily pause in the fighting, lasting 4–6 hours, to facilitate the evacuation of distressed Palestinians from North Gaza to the southern part of the country.

However, Mr. Edward Ahmed Mitchell, Deputy Director of the Muslim Advocacy Group CAIR, has expressed reservations about the IDF’s decision to pause the battle on hourly basis, emphasizing that the rest of the world is calling for a ceasefire instead.

“Instituting a four-hour pause on Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of northern Gaza so that Palestinians can flee their homes and face Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of southern Gaza makes no sense.

We need a ceasefire across Gaza, not the ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza.”

The Muslim advocacy group’s accusation of ethnic bias introduces a new dimension, supporting suspicions in some quarters that Israel’s ultimate plan is to render North Gaza not only uninhabited but also uninhabitable.

This strategy is likely aimed at transforming the area into a demilitarized zone (DMZ), akin to the one between North and South Korea—an outcome stemming from the Korean Wars in the early 1950s.

The Korean War commenced on June 25, 1950, when North Korea invaded South Korea after years of tensions between the two nations.

China and the Soviet Union supported North Korea, while the United States and its allies backed South Korea.

The conflict concluded with an armistice on July 27, 1953, leading to the establishment of a demilitarized zone.