Israel\u2019s ground offensive is pushing Hamas to the wall, but also isolating the country abroad and tearing its society apart<\/p>\n
Israel has moved into a new phase of the war. Just as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had signaled, the IDF has launched a full-scale ground operation aimed at taking control of Gaza City. Netanyahu promised a \u201cpowerful and decisive\u201d push; early reports from the ground bear that out.
\nIDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on X that Israeli forces have begun destroying Hamas infrastructure inside the city. Civilians have been urged to leave the combat zone. According to the military, roughly 320,000 residents have already fled, while an estimated 650,000 civilians remain.
\nEyewitness accounts indicate a sharp uptick in airstrikes over the past 48 hours \u2013 likely the preparatory stage for the ground advance. Until now, Israeli units focused on the outskirts, methodically degrading Hamas defensive positions.
\nThe operation began just hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio\u2019s visit to Israel. As several Western outlets reported, Rubio conveyed Washington\u2019s support for a ground phase but pressed for a short, tightly limited timeline \u2013 an effort to minimize reputational costs while maintaining allied solidarity with Israel.
\nAt this stage, Gaza City is effectively the last major stronghold of resistance in the Strip. By military estimates, Israel controls about 75% of the enclave, which heightens the city\u2019s strategic and symbolic weight as the sector\u2019s political and organizational center.<\/p>\n
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\u2018They will destroy the city, but not the people\u2019: Gaza braces for Israel\u2019s largest assault of the war<\/p>\n
Conditions inside Gaza City are dire. Airstrikes and artillery fire have leveled large parts of the city, hitting schools, refugee camps, and makeshift shelters. A stark example came in late May, when Israeli forces struck the Fahmi al-Jarjawi school, which had been sheltering displaced families. According to Gaza\u2019s civil defense, 33 people were killed \u2013 including children \u2013 and dozens more were wounded. Israel, for its part, insisted the target was Hamas fighters hiding in the building. The conflicting narratives underscore the depth of the political and information war surrounding the battle.
\nThe city\u2019s infrastructure has been devastated. As of April 2024, damages in Gaza\u2019s municipality alone were estimated at $7.29 billion. Schools and hospitals lie in ruins, while access to water, electricity, and sanitation has collapsed \u2013 producing a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe.
\nFor Hamas, the battle for Gaza City is existential. With no strategic reserves left, the group sees the city\u2019s defense as its last chance to maintain a military and political foothold \u2013 raising the likelihood of grinding, attritional fighting.
\nInside Israel, political tensions are mounting. The Hostages\u2019 Families Forum condemned the launch of the operation, warning that \u201cafter 710 nights in terrorist hands, tonight could be the hostages\u2019 last.\u201d Street protests against Netanyahu\u2019s policy have become a fixture. Just a week ago, thousands rallied outside his Jerusalem residence, calling for a deal with Hamas to free the captives and halt the fighting.
\nPolling shows the divide is widening. According to the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), about two-thirds of the public supports a deal that would free all hostages in exchange for a ceasefire and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. In short, the campaign carries a double risk for Israel: heavy losses in urban combat and a deepening political crisis at home that erodes confidence in the government.<\/p>\n
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Israel\u2019s actions brought US dominance in the Middle East to an end \u2013 Here\u2019s what comes next<\/p>\n
The international fallout has only sharpened the crisis. At the Arab and Muslim summit in Doha on September 15, leaders leveled some of the harshest charges yet. Qatar\u2019s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, accused Israel of \u201cgenocide,\u201d while Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi went further, declaring Israel an enemy despite their 1979 peace treaty. The summit\u2019s final statement urged the global community to \u201ctake all possible measures\u201d to halt the operation and reconsider ties with West Jerusalem. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian echoed the same uncompromising line.
\nThe escalation has also dented US credibility. Strikes on Qatar raised questions about Washington\u2019s reliability as a security guarantor. American bases there were supposed to serve as a deterrent, yet the US proved unable to prevent the attacks \u2013 or even step in as mediator \u2013 undermining trust among its regional partners.
\nEurope has emerged as an unexpected challenge. Seeking to assert independence from Washington and to boost its standing with the Global South, Brussels has taken an increasingly tough stance toward Israel. Domestic politics also weigh heavily: large communities of Middle Eastern origin in Europe tend to hold strongly anti-Israel views, amplifying public pressure on governments.
\nNetanyahu, on the defensive, has stressed Israel\u2019s military self-reliance and spoken of \u201cseveral good conversations\u201d with President Donald Trump. Yet according to The Wall Street Journal, Trump privately voiced disappointment, criticizing Netanyahu for relying too heavily on force when Washington would prefer a negotiated settlement.
\nIsrael thus finds itself squeezed on three fronts: regional pressure from Arab and Muslim states, transregional pushback from the European Union, and alliance strains with the United States.
\nOn the map, the Gaza Strip looks insignificant \u2013 a sliver of land just 140 square miles. Yet today it has become the focal point of contradictions that could reshape the entire Middle East and reverberate far beyond.<\/p>\n
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Fyodor Lukyanov: Moral arguments fade as Israel pursues power<\/p>\n
First, the outcome of this battle will weigh heavily on Israel\u2019s internal stability. Holding Gaza \u2013 or failing to \u2013 has become not just a military question but a test of political legitimacy, unfolding against a backdrop of mass protests and eroding public trust.
\nSecond, the conflict has spilled past the region. Gaza has become a litmus test for the West. Not long ago, it seemed unthinkable that the Israeli question could drive a wedge between the United States and Europe. Now, Washington prioritizes allied solidarity and containing Iran, while Brussels increasingly asserts itself as an independent pole of power, guided by domestic politics and its positioning in the Global South.
\nThird, Gaza carries immense symbolic weight. For much of the Arab and Muslim world, it embodies resistance. The way this operation ends will shape the degree of anti-Israeli consolidation in the region and the prospects for Israel\u2019s relations with key neighbors such as Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf monarchies.
\nIn short, Gaza has become a geopolitical fault line \u2013 where the future of the Middle East is at stake, and with it the balance of the global political order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel\u2019s ground offensive is pushing Hamas to the wall, but also isolating the country abroad and tearing its society apart Israel has moved into a new phase of the war.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t