Israel’s Bluff on Military Power Laid Bare after Defeat in Gaza: MP
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian lawmaker said the Gaza resistance groups’ victory in a recent military encounter with Israel revealed that the Tel Aviv regime’s talk of its military capabilities was merely an empty boast.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency on Friday, Esmail Kowsari, member of the parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission, said Israel opened a strike on the Gaza Strip in the hope of defeating the Palestinian resistance groups, but ultimately acceded to a ceasefire plan.
Praising Gaza’s triumph after more than seven weeks of brutal Israeli assaults on the coastal enclave, the lawmaker said, “Everybody found out that the Zionist regime understands the language of force and that the only path towards victory over that regime is resistance.”
On July 8, Israel opened air strikes on the Gaza Strip. After 10 days of bombardment of the enclave from the air and sea, the Israeli forces launched a ground offensive against the densely populated enclave of 1.8 million Palestinians.
Amid Egyptian-mediated diplomatic efforts to end the war, Israel, which was shocked by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas’ missile capabilities, had first insisted that any truce plan should entail the disarmament of Gaza.
However, a final ceasefire deal, which was mediated in Cairo and took effect on Tuesday evening, has called for the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing strong criticism in Israel over a costly conflict that not only battered the regime’s economy, but also failed to meet its initial demands.
