Israel is entering a new phase in its war for its survival against Hamas. Pray it finishes the job quickly.
IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin refers to its new plan as “operational ambiguity” — holding back details to “surprise the enemy.”
The anti-Israel New York Times calls the plan a shifting of “the goal posts,” yet Jerusalem’s goals — rescuing hostages, dethroning Hamas and ensuring no future threats from Gaza — remain unchanged.
The paper also suggests (hopes?) Israel will fail, noting snarkily that it hasn’t achieved its goals “in more than a year of war.”
Actually, that last part’s true — which is why the IDF is fighting on. And why Israel is changing its game plan.
The policy now is to hold territory, box in Hamas and squeeze it to release hostages, surrender or be killed.
Israel has stepped up strikes and retaken the Netzarim Corridor, which divides the strip’s north and south.
It’s creating a new security corridor across southern Gaza, apparently meant to cut off Rafah.
Defense Minister Israel Katz warns troops “will seize large areas” of the strip, and he calls for a large-scale evacuation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is offering to facilitate voluntary emigration.
Meanwhile, conditions on the ground have changed dramatically since the war began.
The terrorists’ leadership, fighting forces and infrastructure have been severely weakened.
And they’ve lost considerable public support: Civilians are tired of being moved around like cattle, facing shortages, Hamas thievery and price-gouging, the destruction of their homes and death.
Gazans are taking to the streets, rightly blaming Hamas and calling for its ouster, along with the release of hostages and an end to the war.
Plus, Israel is dealing with a far more supportive White House.
President Donald Trump himself has called for the evacuation of Gaza, so it can be rebuilt.
Alas, Arab neighbors have refused to take them — a decades-old position that’s effectively made Gazans prisoners of Hamas.
Instead, these countries have traditionally encouraged Palestinians to wage war on Israel, mostly as a way to distract from their own domestic shortcomings.
Even now, Saudi Arabia — which would love Israel as an ally and an economic trading partner — says the war must end and a pathway to a Palestinian state be created before it normalizes ties with the Jewish state.
That just hardens Palestinian expectations and emboldens Hamas.
Some non-Arab states, too, have in effect promoted war and imprisoned Gazans, leaving them to Hamas’ mercy by siding with Israel’s would-be destroyers.
Would, say, Ireland — one of the most anti-Israel states in the West — take in Palestinians begging for refuge there? Fat chance.
Thus, short of a Trump-style evacuation, Israel must fight on: It can’t, and won’t, agree to any “permanent” cease-fire that lets Hamas survive.
Such a truce would be permanent . . . up until the next time Hamas launched an Oct. 7-style slaughterfest, as it explicitly vows to do.
Israel’s new strategy is no surefire quick solution. But it may be its best hope.
And the sooner the world gets fully behind Israel’s efforts, the sooner the war will be over.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
