Seven months into the war, Israeli troops are back fighting in the north of the Gaza Strip, in areas that were supposed to have been cleared months ago, highlighting growing questions about the government’s declared goal of eliminating Hamas.
As tanks have started pushing into the southern city of Rafah, where the military says the last four intact battalions of Hamas are dug in, there has been fierce fighting in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City and around Jabalia, to the north, both of which the army took control of last year before moving on.
The renewed fighting there – amid international pressure for a ceasefire – has underscored concern in Israel that the lack of a clear strategic plan for Gaza will leave Hamas in effective control of the enclave it has ruled since 2007.
As Israel marks one of its most sombre Independence Days on Tuesday, a clear end to the war appears as far off as ever.
Hunkered in the extensive tunnel network that runs beneath the ruins of Gaza, Hamas appears to retain broad support among a population scarred by a campaign that has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians and forced most Gazans from their homes.
If we rely on a strategy of ongoing attrition or surgical operations against Hamas, it won’t achieve the goal of governmental or military collapse,” said Michael Milshtein, a former military intelligence officer and one of Israel’s most prominent experts on the Islamist movement.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell declared on Monday that Washington doubted Israel would achieve “sweeping victory on the battlefield”.
For the past few weeks, cabinet officials have urged Netanyahu to formulate a clear “day after” policy for Gaza, according to two security officials.
However Netanyahu has so far insisted on total victory, responding to pressure from hard-right allies such as Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose support he needs to hold his ruling coalition together.
Despite international calls for a revival of efforts to find a solution to the decades-long conflict, talk of a political settlement has been rejected repeatedly by a government that refuses to contemplate any steps towards an independent Palestinian state.
That has left it forced to seek a purely military solution that has complicated the task of the troops on the ground.
This week, Israel’s Channel 13 news reported that army commander Herzi Halevi had told Netanyahu
