In less than two months the war will reach two years since its beginning when Hamas terrorists on Saturday, October 7, 2023, murdered more than 1,200 Israeli citizens and tortured and kidnapped many others. Fifty hostages are still held by Hamas, only 20 believed alive, according to Israeli officials.
Netanyahu told Fox News Channel's Bill Hemmer in an interview that aired last Thursday that the military intended to take control of all of Gaza. He said Israel did not want to keep the Gaza Strip, but to establish a "security perimeter" and to hand over the territory to Arab forces.
Difficult but rational approachChad Groening (AFN) National defense strategist Robert Maginnis argues that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking a rational approach in its new strategy regarding Gaza. 
"… It's what they feel as if they had no option other than if they want to somehow get a chance of releasing the remaining live hostages and of course, ensure that Hamas does not raise its ugly head again," he tells AFN. "Netanyahu and his people were up against a series of tough decisions … and they made a decision." But Maginnis says the Israelis have made it clear they don't ultimately want to govern Gaza. They just want it secured "so that it can't sit inside and shoot missiles at Tel Aviv from inside Gaza or send terrorists like they did on October 7." "… Going into Gaza doing what they're going to do provides them a modicum of security going forward – and [it] seems to be a rational approach." |
The announcement from the prime minister's office early on Friday, following Thursday's security cabinet meeting, said the military would take Gaza City, but did not say if Israeli forces would take all of the enclave, Reuters reported.
The plan was approved by Netanyahu's security cabinet later Friday.
The Israeli war plan needed to move out of neutral, Chris Mitchell, Middle East bureau chief for CBN, explained on Washington Watch Friday.
"Israel has been at the crossroads of what to do – whether or not to have a negotiated settlement with Hamas, whether to free more of the hostages, maybe have a ceasefire. Hamas wanted certainly the end of the war and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops out of Gaza Strip. That was something Israel's unwilling to do, so this is a major step," Mitchell told show host Jody Hice.
It could be a couple of weeks or perhaps a month before the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reach the city center, Mitchell estimated.
Preparing for the offensive
Monday, Palestinians reported increased bombing east of Gaza City, according to Reuters. An airstrike killed six journalists, including prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al Sharif in a tent at Gaza City's Al Shifa Hospital compound, Reuters reported.
The IDF says Al Sharif's second job was head of a Hamas militant cell and that he had been involved in rocket attacks against Israel.
In the meantime, the Israelis are encouraging Gaza City residents – still an estimated 900,000 – to leave. They are also preparing safe places for those residents where they will receive food, water and medical attention.
"They also are asking most of the residents there to go south to humanitarian areas where even now they're setting up hospitals and camps for people to get out of harm's way and to be safe," Mitchell added. "This is a policy that the IDF has done throughout the war, giving evacuation notices to people to get them out of harm's way."
Netanyahu addressed Israeli media on Sunday, saying his five-point Gaza City plan is the only way to secure the release of the remaining hostages.
Hamas, said the prime minister, is not seriously seeking a negotiated peace. Instead, the terrorists have "raised impossible conditions, not only in our view but also in the view of the United States," Netanyahu described. "They include, among other things, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip – including the Philadelphia Corridor – which would allow the free smuggling of weapons; the release of imprisoned terrorists, these monsters, and a demand for binding international guarantees that would prevent the IDF from resuming combat."
No responsible government would accept such terms, Netanyahu said.
He went on to criticize Hamas for its release of images of purported starvation in Gaza – conditions Israel has created, the terrorists say – and the media for buying into a false and misleading campaign.
The three most visible cases of ostensible Israeli-imposed starvation were all false, Netanyahu said, citing specifics to back up his claims.
"Our goal is not to occupy Gaza. Our goal is to free Gaza, free it from Hamas terrorists," Netanyahu said, reiterating: "The war can end tomorrow if Hamas lays down its arms and releases all the remaining hostages."
Former congresswoman and House Intelligence Committee member Michele Bachmann told AFN Israel has been more than patient.
"Let's remember what war has been throughout history. One side gets attacked, like Israel did, and so then the one who was attacked defends themselves, and they go and they defeat the one who attacked them. That's all Israel is doing. They want to make sure they never get attacked again. There's nothing wrong with that. That's called war. Israel is the most moral army there ever is. No other army tells the enemy ahead of time what they're going to bomb. Israel feeds the enemy during the war, and yet who gets accused of genocide? Israel."
What the plan entails
The Israel plan seeks:
– To disarm Hamas.
– Free remaining hostages.
– Demilitarize Gaza.
– Establish Israeli security control.
– Establish non-Israeli peaceful civil administration.
"This is like one of the last phases of the war to be able to surround Gaza City, to eliminate this one of the last strongholds of Hamas, so [Israel] can achieve the goals of the war, which is to defeat Hamas militarily and to make sure that Hamas is never able to rule the Gaza Strip ever again," Mitchell said.
The fighting, he emphasized, won't be easy.
"It'll be a very difficult military operation because there are many Hamas fighters in Gaza City, many tunnels, many booby traps. Urban warfare is the most difficult warfare there is but compounding that is the fact that there is a labyrinth of tunnels under Gaza City, as in most of Gaza, that the IDF has discovered," Mitchell said.
