Israel initially made tactical advances against Hamas after powerful aerial strikes paved the way for its ground troops. But those early gains have given way to a grinding struggle against an adaptable insurgency — and a growing feeling among many Israelis that their military faces only bad options, drawing comparisons with US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This was the subtext of a rebellion in recent days by two members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s three-man war cabinet — Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s main political rival — who demanded that he come up with detailed postwar plans.
They supported Israel’s military response to Hamas’s October 7 cross-border attack, which killed 1,200 people and saw 252 people abducted to the Gaza Strip. The operation, aimed at toppling the Hamas regime in Gaza, destroying the terror group, and freeing the hostages has seen one of the heaviest bombing campaigns in recent history. Ground operations have cost the lives of 286 Israeli soldiers in Gaza and along the border with the Palestinian enclave.
The fighting, which has pitched Israeli forces against Hamas gunmen embedded in civilian infrastructure — including hospitals and schools — has caused widespread devastation, disrupted humanitarian aid deliveries and, according to the UN’s World Food Program, pushed parts of the territory into famine. READ MORE