In March 2025, Israel launched a new large-scale military operation in Gaza, codenamed “Gideon’s Chariots”. This operation, one of the boldest and most controversial military actions by Israel in recent decades, was ostensibly designed to destroy Hamas and secure Israel’s southern border. Yet, far from achieving its objectives, it has plunged the region into an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. Carried out amid internal political turmoil and mounting international pressure, the operation has drawn widespread condemnation from human rights organizations, Western governments, and even Israel’s traditional allies. The intensifying cycle of violence, coupled with the extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure and rising casualties, highlights the strategic failure of this approach.

This policy appears driven more by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s short-term political motivations to maintain power than by a coherent strategy for resolving the conflict. Rather than weakening Hamas, it has reinforced the group’s status as a symbol of resistance against occupation. This analysis argues that the reoccupation of Gaza is doomed to fail and will lead only to a strategic deadlock and a humanitarian disaster. By examining the various dimensions of the operation—including strategic miscalculations, human costs, and diplomatic fallout—this article shows how the offensive has deepened the crisis rather than resolved it, casting a dark shadow over the region’s future.

Israel’s reoccupation of Gaza rests on a fundamental yet flawed assumption: that overwhelming military force can eliminate Hamas and restore full Israeli control over the territory. This hypothesis ignores the deep roots Hamas has within Palestinian society—a group fueled by widespread discontent resulting from years of blockade, poverty, and the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure. Hamas’s decentralized structure, supported by social networks and popular backing, has made it highly resilient to conventional military attacks. Instead of weakening Hamas, Israel’s military campaign—marked by the destruction of homes, schools, and hospitals—has inflamed public anger and aided Hamas in recruiting new fighters. This perpetuating cycle of violence, in which each Israeli offensive strengthens rather than suppresses resistance, reveals a profound strategic error rooted in a misunderstanding of........

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