For almost two years, the conflict launched by Benyamin Netanyahu against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, under the banner of the “Operation Gideon” (or “Chariots of Gideon”), is part of a logic of war without horizon. It is a war that never ends. The initial objective displayed was clear: crushing the threat of Hamas, freeing the hostages and bringing security back to Israel. However, an internal report of the Israeli army, a confidential version of which leaked to the press, via the channel Channel 12 according to The Times of Israelconcludes that the operation is considered to be a “Global failure” after “Committed to all possible mistakes”, Offering at Israeli military doctrine.
This document – distributed without authorization by the Operational Information Center for Land Forces – is now at the heart of an explosive debate in the heart of the Hebrew state. Faced with this catastrophic report, Netanyahu announced the imminent launch of a major operation for “Enforce” With Hamas, resuscitating martial vocabulary and national union. But this approach appears as a flight forward: despite massive destruction in Gaza, the Palestinian terrorist group remains active and resilient. The internal report stresses that Gaza has not been won over, the hostages are still not released, and that the operation has produced any of the hoped -for strategic effects – on the contrary.
Interior wear and politico-military fracture
Within the army, the feeling is clear: the generals suspect political leadership now in disconnection with the realities of the battlefield. The leaked relationship denounces a use of a logic of deterrent rather than decisive victory, approximate logistics, and poor management of humanitarian aid which ended up strengthening the famine speech orchestrated by Hamas this divergence growing between government and army exacerbates war fatigue, already palpable in a fragmented Israeli society. Voices are rising, especially among the families of the hostages, which criticize Netanyahu for using their drama on the altar of its political survival.
Israel now appears in a war with fuzzy contours
While continuous destruction, two antagonistic visions compete. On the one hand, a radical faction within the government pleads for a total operation, intended to eradicate Hamas and restore undisputed control over Gaza – a heavily expensive, humanly and politically strategy. On the other hand, international pressures support projects for reconstruction and economic rehabilitation, sometimes whimsical, evoking the “Gaza Riviera” like the real estate projects once promoted by Donald Trump.
But how can we build on ruins and political desolation a “Dubai on Mediterranean” without underlying political resolution? Many think that the idea is not totally absurd even if cynical from a humanist point of view: what is the future of these thousands of young people condemned to misery, radicalism and death by remaining in Gaza? The internal report having leaked sounds like a death knell for the imaginary victory of rapid government.
Israel now appears to be taken in a war with blurred outlines, unable to advance militarily and overwhelmed diplomatically. We unfortunately do not get rid of an ideology like that of Hamas by dint of bombs and rifles. Between the illusion of a total military victory and the temptation of an American -style showcase reconstruction, Gaza remains a territory suspended between illusory ruins and dreams. As for Israel, he seems to sail, trapped in his contradictions and the absence of a viable political solution. The project submitted in the saddle by the American administration also aims to mask the absence of a political alternative which is responsible for and Israel, and the Palestinians and a good part of the international community.
*Sébastien Boussois is Dprovision of political science, Arab and geopolitical world researcher, teacher in international relations at IHECS (Brussels), associated with CNAM Paris (Defense Security team), at the Institute of Applied Geopolitics Studies (IEGA Paris), In the Nordic Center for Conflict Transformation (NCCT Stockholm) and at the Geneva Geostrategic Observatory (Switzerland).
