Israel’s land invasion of Gaza City is the most dangerous phase of the war with Hamas. Hyped as a knockout blow to shatter Hamas’s grip and free hostages, the offensive has attracted gigantic military resources while provoking hysterical international indignation and deepening the crisis of civilians.
At its center is a multi-step strategy: destroy Hamas’s military infrastructure, rescue all the hostages, achieve permanent control of the area, and lay the ground for a new civil administration free of Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. Israel has mobilized an estimated 60,000 reservists to fight side by side with its regulars. Five units are reportedly in the mix, moving incrementally into quarters long Hamas strongholds, like Zeitoun and Jabalia. Soldiers call the mission calculated and precise, with troops moving into areas that before had no direct engagement. Not only is the intention to hit Hamas fighters on the surface, but to make their vast system of tunnels under the city useless.
Looming over all of the military efforts is the issue of the hostages, which remains a heavy incubus for Israeli society. Of the 251 human beings abducted on October 7, 2023, some 50 are believed to remain captive in Gaza, but few are believed to survive. Recent efforts brought back the body of Ilan Weiss, who had been killed while fighting to protect Kibbutz Be’eri, and the body of another captive.
Hostage families, who have organized in the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, are demanding that authorities place their safe release foremost in their minds, reminding authorities of their vow to get all of them home. With each rescue, either a survivor or bodies, there is added poignancy and new urgency to the nation’s debate.
The humanitarian toll, however, worsens by the hour. Tens of thousands were forced out in Gaza City and packed into already crowded shelters elsewhere to the south, particularly along the al-Mawasi strip. Such widespread displacement potentially threatens an irreversible tragedy, warn aid agencies. Tens of thousands have died since the war started, and more than a hundred thousand have been wounded, local health officials report.
More and more deaths today are brought about not by bombs but by disease and hunger, with famine now actually declared in Gaza City and the surrounding areas. Perhaps the most threatened group is that of children, as food shortages and malnutrition start to take hold at lower levels. Over ninety percent of all houses are destroyed or damaged, and hardly any hospitals are still functioning at partially. The international outcry has been angry and condemnatory.
World and EU leaders have denounced the attack, saying that it puts the region at risk of being stuck in perpetual conflict and continuing to kill civilians. The UN human rights official cautioned that nothing will mean more displacement, more killings, and more destruction than escalation. In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under increasing pressure at home.
Hostage families and protesters both are demanding a negotiated solution, with hard-line right-wing coalition members opposed to any ceasefire agreement, threatening to bring down the government if a deal is implemented. On the ground, Gaza City has been turned into an active battlefield.
Bombing along its borders has increased, and humanitarian ceasefires previously employed to permit minimal aid have been ended. For the rest who stay behind as civilians, survival from one day to the next grows increasingly difficult.
Hamas maintains that it is gearing up for protracted city warfare and that hostages will be preserved alive, even if their prospects grow more and more dubious with each passing day. Churches, clinics, and the few remaining institutions are the last refuge for those who cannot or will not escape. The future is uncertain and ominous.
The general Israeli leadership position is not to desist until Hamas is utterly destroyed and all the hostages are freed. Local mediators continue to demand a ceasefire and exchange arrangements, but suspicion and habitual stance are stopping their progress. The path of the next few weeks will likely decide not only the fate of the fighting in Gaza City, but also the course of the overall struggle and the future of its civilian inhabitants.