Six months of war. It has been half a year since the horrific invasion of Hamas terrorists into the kibbutzim and villages on the edge of the Gaza strip and more than twelve hundred Israelis were brutally murdered and villages were burned and destroyed. In addition, 250 Israelis were abducted from their home and taken to the Gaza strip as hostages.
While most Israeli military leaders have reluctantly admitted that major intelligence failures has led to this disaster, Israel has reacted with all its might and Gaza is bombed endlessly and large numbers of combat troops were sent into Gaza to destroy Hamas. Israel has set itself (at least publicly) two main goals for this war: The liberation of the hostages and the complete destruction of Hamas.
Negotiations with Hamas, through intermediaries Egypt and Qatar, have resulted in the release of 112 hostages, and a number of others have been declared dead , but 132 people still remain in the hands of Hamas and horror stories are told by the released hostages about sexual harassment, hunger, torture and isolation.
As for the destruction of Hamas. While the army has steadily moved from the northern Gaza strip towards the south, killing terrorists and destroying infrastructure, the last hold-out of Hamas, in Rafiah has not yet been conquered, and it is generally believed that the leader of Hamas, Sinwar, is holed up there, surrounded by hostages as a human shield.
So why, after six months, Israel still is far from reaching its basic goals in this endless war? There are many explanations possible and all are probably somewhat right and somewhat wrong. It is claimed that the war effort moves forward slowly, in order to protect the soldiers, which may be part of a thought-out strategy, even though already six hundreds soldiers were killed. Hamas has in the past fifteen years built an underground infrastructure that is hard to get control over, with tunnels throughout the Strip with a length of twice the length of the tunnels of the London Underground. Hamas hides its command centers in such civilian structures as hospitals and schools, which makes fighting even more difficult.
But there are also very worrisome issues that have a major effect on the war, but are not of a military nature. The goals of the war have been formulated by Prime Minister Netanyahu, more than anyone else. In addition to the (ever present) Israeli superiority complex that has governed many actions now and in the past, the personal goals of Netanyahu are undoubtedly of influence on his decisions. If the war ends, there will be elections in Israel and Netanyahu will most likely lose his job. One particular issue, which has become a major cause of friction with the United States, is the attack on the last Hamas stronghold in Rafiah. Netanyahu has for weeks been declaring that the Israeli Army will enter Rafiah, no matter what the world (including the United States) will think about such an action. But, if indeed Rafiah is so important to Israel, why wasn’t it attacked long ago, before it became an confrontational issue?
And, in the meantime, the world is rapidly forgetting the atrocities of October 7th , because the world has generally a short memory, but also, and mainly, because Israel is providing an impressive set of atrocities herself.
The 7th of October was disastrous, with the largest amount of civilian Israelis killed in all Israel’s wars, but it is hardly comparable to what Israel has done in the past months. Even if Hamas is exaggerating the numbers, the total people killed in Gaza likely exceeds 30,000. And while quite a few of the men may be considered terrorists (even if this is far from clear), the number of killed women and children is still estimated at more then 20,000. The extensive bombing has caused the destruction of 40-50% of all housing in Gaza, with more than a million people that have no home to go to. In Israel, these incredible facts are not given much attention, but the world sees the pictures from Gaza every day. Add to that the continued problems with the aid supply, resulting in famine mound hundreds of thousands of Gaza refugees, the sympathy for Israel has largely evaporated and is rapidly turning into demands for boycotts and a stop of weapon deliveries. Demands on Israel to stop the war are getting louder and soon Israel will no longer be able to ignore them. The major goal of the war, to destroy Hamas will not be reached and it is time Israel and it leaders wake up and acknowledge this.
And the goal of bringing the hostages home, are we any closer there? The demands from Hamas are unacceptable to Israel, at least according to its leaders, but is it surprising that the terrorists connect between the war and the hostages? Hamas will use the hostages as the best card they have to play and will most likely not give in until Israel will agrees to end the war and withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip. Israeli leaders do not realize this? Or is for them the “complete” victory in the war, more important than the hostages?
It is high time that some common sense is used to evaluate the situation and Israel’s leaders should decide which of its two main goals is more important. It is clear that both goals will not be reached, and the “complete” victory will cost the lives of the hostages (those that are still alive). A hostage deal will force Israel to give up on Rafiah and withdraw from large parts of Gaza, allowing Hamas to return.
It is most likely that Israel, and its leaders, will have to get used to the simple fact that neither of the main goals for this war will be reached. Hamas, also after six months , is still active and even still sends rockets to the southern villages every now and then. The tunnel system has enabled them to continue fighting and escaping the Israeli army time and again, and many of the terrorists have moved to Rafiah, because it is widely believed that the pressure on Israel will prevent it from attacking this last stronghold of Hamas. In the end the army will need to pull out, be it for practical military reasons or as a demand made as part of the hostage negotiations, but it is already clear that “Total Victory” is not going to be achieved.
And the hostages? Even if they are very valuable for Hamas in the negotiations, and the Israeli government is not saying much, it must be assumed that a large number of them are already dead and that if Israel does not stop the war, most of them will be murdered.
So neither of the main goals will be attainable, no matter what Israel does. So isn’t it time to stop this?
I hope you found this article interesting and I welcome any comments you may have.
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