The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that Israel is still far from strategic victory in Gaza, 4 months after the start of the war, despite achieving tactical gains against the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
In a report entitled “4 months after the outbreak of the war, the end is approaching in Khan Yunis… achievements and goals awaiting achievement, and strategic disappointment,” the newspaper wrote that the army has achieved many gains, but has not yet succeeded in achieving one of its main goals, which is eliminating senior Hamas leaders.
Senior Hamas leaders and detainees
The newspaper added that the army, upon reaching Khan Yunis, was now facing the western branch of the local Hamas battalion, and estimates indicate that it will be able to achieve its goal within a week and complete the second phase, that is, the invasion of the southern Gaza Strip, then move to the third phase, which will also include Khan Yunis, but two goals. Two essentials that he identified in the city itself were not fulfilled. The senior Hamas leaders were not eliminated, led by Yahya Al-Sinwar and Muhammad Al-Deif, and the place where the prisoners were held was not determined and they were not rescued.
The newspaper says that the Israeli army claims that intense military pressure through ground forces alone is sufficient to push Hamas to complete another deal, but the reality shows that the indications that it is approaching the detainees’ sites – even if they accumulate daily – have not led to them being captured alive.
No strategic victory
The army’s primary goal in the first and second phases – the newspaper recalls – was to eliminate the command and control capabilities possessed by “Hamas” and to destroy its bases above and below the ground, but in addition to the daily tactical achievements – such as reaching and destroying weapons manufacturing workshops – Israel remains completely far from strategic victory. The government refuses to discuss the next day in the Gaza Strip to find out who will rule its two million residents. Hamas has exploited the existing vacuum, and there are signs of the return of its authority in areas where the army had moved.
Yedioth Ahronoth quoted the Israelis as estimating that between 17 and 24 Hamas brigades had been eliminated, and what remained intact was moving in areas that the Israeli army had not entered by a deliberate decision, such as Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat in the center, and south of the explosive Rafah on the Philadelphia smuggling axis. Weapons from Sinai.
Egypt and the invasion of Rafah
According to the newspaper, the plans to enter Rafah and eliminate the Hamas battalion there – where the movement’s leaders are likely holed up after their departure from the north and center, according to Yedioth Ahronoth – have most likely been completed, but their implementation requires one of two conditions: Egypt’s approval, which may force Israel to show flexibility. On the issue of bringing in humanitarian aid, or Israeli approval for a Palestinian body ruling Gaza instead of Hamas, in addition to the evacuation of a million Palestinians who fled from the north and are now in the refugee camps surrounding Rafah.
The newspaper talks about another condition that it considers less important, which is the continued availability of international legitimacy under American auspices, which allows Israel to return to strong military action in Gaza, but renewing this “legitimacy” – which was made available under the shock of last October 7 – may be difficult because American distrust of the buffer zone plan and because of the destruction of thousands of homes, not to mention Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on refusing to discuss the future status of the Strip and handing it over to “moderate” elements from outside “Hamas,” and the right-wing in his government controlling most of the decisions, and this wing’s demand for settlement. Gaza.
