{"id":297974,"date":"2025-05-05T10:20:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T10:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/05\/israel-believes-pounding-gaza-again-will-finish-hamas-some-are-not-so-sure\/"},"modified":"2025-05-05T10:20:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T10:20:13","slug":"israel-believes-pounding-gaza-again-will-finish-hamas-some-are-not-so-sure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/05\/israel-believes-pounding-gaza-again-will-finish-hamas-some-are-not-so-sure\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Believes Pounding Gaza Again Will Finish Hamas. Some Are Not So Sure."},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/05\/05\/multimedia\/05int-israel-assess-01-chmk\/05int-israel-assess-01-chmk-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Israel Believes Pounding Gaza Again Will Finish Hamas. Some Are Not So Sure.\" title=\"Israel Believes Pounding Gaza Again Will Finish Hamas. Some Are Not So Sure.\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As Israel gears up to add tens of thousands of reserve soldiers to the battlefield in Gaza, the logic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be this: Victory against Hamas will come from an even bigger barrage of military might in the weeks ahead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe have not finished the war,\u201d Mr. Netanyahu declared on Sunday as his security cabinet signed off on <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/03\/world\/middleeast\/israel-mobilizes-reservists-gaza.html\" title=\"\">expanding the fighting<\/a>. \u201cWe will perform this operation with a unified military, with a powerful army and deeply resolved soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But it is not clear how those additional fighters will fundamentally alter a dynamic seen over 18 months of war in which hundreds of thousands of soldiers have <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/02\/world\/middleeast\/israel-gaza-offensive-hamas-war-katz.html\" title=\"\">pummeled Hamas fighters<\/a>, with <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/04\/world\/europe\/israel-gaza-blockade-humanitarian-crisis.html\" title=\"\">residents in Gaza<\/a> caught in the middle, but have failed to achieve Israel\u2019s goals of destroying the militant group or releasing all hostages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And it remains uncertain whether the Israeli military will surge back into Gaza before President Trump arrives in the Middle East next week for meetings in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Two reservists who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make comments to the news media said that they had received call-up orders beginning in June. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/30\/world\/middleeast\/israel-hamas-ceasefire-gaza.html\" title=\"\">the collapse of a two-month cease-fire<\/a> in March, Israel has blocked food, medicine and other humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza. And the Israeli air force has already renewed its heavy bombardment of the enclave.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, the government is poised to expand its ground offensive as well, with the goal of re-entering cities in Gaza and forcing Hamas to submit to Israel\u2019s demand to permanently lay down their weapons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The question is whether a return to that kind of fighting is a road map to the end of hostilities or merely an intensification of a deadly conflict with worsening consequences for Palestinians and the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/12\/world\/middleeast\/israel-gaza-passover.html\" title=\"\">Israeli hostages still being held<\/a> by Hamas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Tamir Hayman, who served as the Israeli military\u2019s intelligence chief for four years, said the attempts to pressure Hamas with overwhelming force had been \u201cexhausted\u201d after more than a year and a half of war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEliminating Hamas as a terror organization by military force only is very difficult,\u201d said Mr. Hayman, who is now executive director of the Institute for National Security Studies, a think tank in Tel Aviv. He said Israel would be better off ending the war with Hamas, which has been weakened significantly and can be kept in check after the fighting ends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Israeli military has not provided details about how the reservists will be deployed. But two Israeli officials, who requested anonymity to comment on military plans, say it will involve several brigades seeking so-called operational superiority in several parts of Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Trump administration has sought a new cease-fire, but Hamas has demanded an end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, while Israel has insisted that Hamas disarm, which the group has refused to do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Israel call-up of soldiers is also a message to Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s hard-line supporters, some of whom were dismayed that the military had not completed the task of eradicating Hamas. Promising a more intense phase of the war could be good domestic politics for him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israeli officials have said they believe it was the power and intensity of their military campaign in Gaza last year that pressured Hamas to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/26\/world\/middleeast\/hamas-israel-hostages-prisoner-release.html\" title=\"\">release some of the hostages<\/a> and to accept a cease-fire in January.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Hours after the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people in Israel, with 251 others taken hostage, Mr. Netanyahu ordered the mobilization of 360,000 reservists, adding to the country\u2019s standing military of about 170,000 soldiers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the fighting since, more than 50,000 Palestinians have died, according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and military deaths. About 130 hostages have been released and the Israeli military has retrieved the bodies of at least 40 others. Around 24 hostages are thought to be still alive, according to the Israeli government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When Israel and Hamas agreed to the January cease-fire deal, Mr. Netanyahu said credit should go to the \u201cpainful blows that our heroic fighters have landed on Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis is exactly how the conditions were created for the turning point in its position and for the release of our hostages,\u201d he said during a national address.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But other voices, like Yair Lapid, Israel\u2019s opposition leader, have expressed grave doubts about the strategy. \u201cI fear that the intensity of the fighting will dictate the fate of the hostages,\u201d Mr. Lapid said on Israeli Army Radio. \u201cWhat is the goal? Why are they calling up reservists? Extending regular service and all without defining a goal \u2014 that\u2019s not how you win a war.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a statement Monday, the organization representing the families of hostages urged the government not to widen the war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe expansion of military operations puts every hostage at grave risk,\u201d the families said. \u201cWe implore our decision makers: Prioritize the hostages. Secure a deal. Bring them home \u2014 before it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Aaron Boxerman<!-- --> and <!-- -->Natan Odenheimer<!-- --> contributed reporting from Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/05\/world\/europe\/israel-buildup-soldiers-hamas-gaza.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Israel gears up to add tens of thousands of reserve soldiers to the battlefield in Gaza, the logic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be this: Victory against Hamas will come from an even bigger barrage of military might in the weeks ahead. \u201cWe have not finished the war,\u201d Mr. Netanyahu declared on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/05\/05\/multimedia\/05int-israel-assess-01-chmk\/05int-israel-assess-01-chmk-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6826,4757,1155,43,32652,5552,38,4758,8527,40413],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297974"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297974"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":297976,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297974\/revisions\/297976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}