Israel: The hardest battle awaits us

The most interesting part of the pro-war trend that dominates most of the Israeli media now is the determination to achieve its goals as formulated in the Israeli government's decision to wage it, which is to eliminate Hamas' capabilities.

The performance of the Israeli media in the current war against the Gaza Strip is no different from its performance in previous wars, whether in the Strip or on other fronts, especially in terms of distancing itself from searching for secrets far from the light, and in everything related to the challenge of military censorship, which is not hidden. It is now more stringent than ever before.

The performance of these media outlets is also characterized by the absence of the civilian side of the war, and in particular the civilian side related to the other side, the Palestinians, as the stories of the suffering of the Palestinian civilian population do not even find a foothold on the small screen, nor in most of the reports of the written and audio press.

Until now, the Israeli media has continued to be a major contributor to fueling a general climate of complete and absolute support for the war and promoting its “justice,” even though some of them do not ignore the question marks that have been raised since the first day of its outbreak, regarding Prime Minister Netanyahu’s responsibility for it. Despite all this, from time to time, in parallel with this support, critical positions appear that point to some elements related to the management of the war, most importantly its ability to achieve the goals set for it. These critical positions have increased with the approach of the stage of truces that are described as humanitarian, and after it became clear that the Israeli army has failed to achieve victory, but the public spirit that emerges from the coverage of the war, in the broadest sense, that is, the strategic one, has remained clearly uncritical since the moment it broke out.

The most exciting part of the trend of supporting the war and demanding its return following the end of the truces, which currently dominates most of the Israeli media, is the determination to achieve its goals as formulated in the Israeli government’s decision to wage it, which is to eliminate Hamas’s military and authoritarian capabilities, and to strive towards establishing a new “security reality” in the Gaza Strip, and releasing civilian prisoners and hostages. This is a tendency that, in our reading, confirms the failure to achieve these goals so far, and indicates in depth the capabilities of the resistance.

According to most military analysts in the main Israeli newspapers, Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel Hayom, Maariv, and Haaretz, the army achieved important, but tactical achievements over the three weeks of the ground maneuver (which began on 10/27/2023), and the Hamas movement received major military strikes, despite all of that Hamas's resolve is still very far away, just as this movement is far from raising the white flag.

In the new reality in the Gaza Strip, the army controls most of the northern regions, with the exception of the eastern section, where the army is awaiting fierce battles in Jabalia and Shuja'iya. In the days preceding the truces, the army-controlled areas of the northern Gaza Strip witnessed daily confrontations with teams of Hamas fighters who launched their attacks from tunnel openings, or through snipers who were stationed behind the windows of high-rise buildings, and led to the army paying a price.

These attacks were a daily routine experienced by Israeli soldiers in Beit Hanoun, Al-Shati, Sheikh Ajlin, Al-Rimal, Tal Al-Hawa, and other neighborhoods and towns in the northern Gaza Strip. The truce process also demonstrated that Hamas is still operating within highly organized frameworks and according to a leadership structure.

Although all of the above-mentioned Israeli newspaper reports are general information that is not detailed or relative and nothing more, without diminishing its significance, the most optimistic about the achievements achieved by the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip also seem pessimistic, led by the former head of the Military Intelligence Division and the Air Force Command, General Reserve Amos Yadlin, believes that in the context of seeking to achieve the goal of undermining Hamas, Israel has only passed 50% of the way, and the path to reaching the desired point is still very long.