After 22 months of large -scale war, killing more than 60,000 Palestinians and forcing Gaza on the verge of famine, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will prepare to challenge even more international, domestic and military opinion by degenerating war against Gaza and by ordering full order.
“The DI is distributed – we are going for a complete occupation of the Gaza Strip,” said Israeli media, which quoted Netanyahu, which cited Netanyahu.
Meet senior security officials on Tuesday, Netanyahu would have been published to support the army taking total control of Gaza, even if it meant that the remaining Israeli captives could be injured or killed.
The fate of the captives taken during the attack led by Hamas against southern Israel on October 7, 2023, was a constant theme throughout the War of Israel against Gaza and saving them was one of the war objectives that Netanyahu affirmed at its beginning.
However, despite the destruction of a large part of Gaza and the displacement and famine of a large part of its population, many captives remain and the territory where they are now outside Israeli military control.
“Netanyahu wants to continue the war,” said Ahron Bregman, political scientist of King’s College in London and former Israeli officer, echoing a generalized criticism of the Prime Minister.
“He wants time. He wants time to maintain his coalition and his time to lead to his corruption trial,” he said about the criminal accusations that have obtained Netanyahu since 2019.
Motivation
The specific reason for this last potential offensive is not clear. Some have suggested that talking about occupation is a tactic to bring Hamas back to the negotiation table.
The Israel headquarters imposed on Gaza after having broken the last ceasefire in March caused international outrage due to the famine it caused. Others have suggested that this could also be a real attempt to eradicate Hamas and finally break the whole spirit remains in the population of Gaza and force them in “concentration zone” camps.
“It could be any of them,” said Israeli political analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg. “Netanyahu has proven in the past that he does not care about popular opinion or mass protest, as long as his right -wing base is happy.
“We have seen this in Rafah, which he destroyed, and we saw him with Iran, that he attacked. No matter what people think. He just needs to keep the base on the side and worry about elections later. This has been the strategy for a large part of the last two years.”
The real question is whether the army is able to occupy all Gaza, added Flaschenberg.
“There is enormous fatigue in the military, the extensive SSPT (post-traumatic stress disorder) and a massive number of manifest and gray (private) refusal,” he said about what was estimated by the Israeli magazine +972 in April as a deficit of troops of more than 100,000.
“It is not at all realistic,” said former American special forces commander, Colonel Seth Krummrich of the International Safety Global Guardian about Netanyahu’s plans to occupy Gaza.
“To capture and maintain land, there is a huge number of soldiers and resources. The Israeli population is divided on this issue, there are therefore national opposite winds which will not support this level of mobilization,” he said about generalized demonstrations in Israel calling for the end of the war.
Refuse
Whatever the policy, many in the Israeli army and security services have opposed Netanyahu and on the plans of its right allies to occupy Gaza, as well as to continue the war against the enclave more generally.
Several high Israeli military officers, including the chief of staff general Eyal Zamir, oppose a new escalation in Gaza.
On Tuesday, more than 600 former senior Israeli security officials signed an open letter calling for US President Donald Trump to use his influence to help the war.
“It is our professional judgment that Hamas no longer represents a strategic threat to Israel,” said the group of commanders for the security of Israel (CIS) in an article on X, where he shared the open letter to President Donald Trump
The CIS is described as “the largest group of former generals (Israeli soldiers) in Israel and Mossad, Shin Bet, the police and diplomatic equivalents of the body”.
“From a military point of view, (Hamas) is completely destroyed. On the other hand, as an ideology, it obtains more and more power among the Palestinian people, in the Arab street around us, and also in the world of Islam,” said Ami Ayolon, the former BBC chief of Israel.
“The lack of support for the superior levels of the military will also prove to be vital,” added Colonel Krummrich. “Military leadership must” own “this operation. If it fails, military leadership is blamed. They must convince their soldiers that it is worth it, in particular in the long term-potentially stretch in years, “he said.
Why would Netanyahu put pressure for the occupation of Gaza?
Any new escalation in Gaza is also sure to prove to be unpopular to the public, which is already tired of the endless war, analysts said.
Certain polls show generalized public opposition in Israel to war, with frustration concerning the repeated apologies of Netanyahu for the failure of his government to conclude a cease-fire contract, which could bring the remaining captives to the house, tangible.
Above all, in May, a survey for Israel Channel 12 showed that most Israelis thought that Netanyahu cared more to cling to power than winning the war.
“When you look at the list of people who came against this, including Zamir, it raises the question of why,” Chatham House Yossi Mekelberg said. “Is Hamas really such a great threat that you sacrifice the hostages, sacrifice the life of the soldiers and sacrifice what remains of the reputation of the country?” He asked.
“He became completely fractured in reality,” said Professor Mekelberg. “It’s madness. A half decent human being, no, a human being in a quarter decent, would have resigned a long time ago, but everything with Netanyahu concerns his political survival. “
