In “The Goals of the War in Gaza – and the Strategy for Achieving Them,” published by the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, my friend Azar Gat provides an excellent guide to Israel’s internal national security debate. A Tel Aviv University political science professor and military history scholar, Gat sketches in unadorned terms Israel’s war aims and strategy. He also briskly evaluates the major doubts about the government’s plans and the leading alternatives. His compelling conclusion is that Israel’s principal objectives – destruction of Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities and liberation of the hostages – “are vital and can be achieved simultaneously.” Gat can insist on the unity of Israel’s goals because he understands them in context and tempers expectations in light of the harsh realities of Middle East politics in general and of Gaza in particular.

On Oct. 7, with Hamas jihadists rampaging through Israel’s southern border communities and perpetrating horrific war crimes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed that Israel was at war. This reflected a decisive change in the Jewish state’s strategic orientation.

Since Hamas’ violent 2007 ouster of the Palestinian Authority from Gaza, the terrorist organization’s periodic rocket bombardments of Israeli civilians and civilian infrastructure prompted Israel to undertake several military incursions into Gaza to degrade Hamas’ capabilities and restore quiet. The jihadists’ Oct. 7 savagery shattered the comforting illusion – shared by Israel’s governing coalition and opposition, military experts, and people – that the Jewish state could live with Hamas ruling Gaza. To eliminate Hamas’ capacity to govern and wage war, Netanyahu’s war cabinet – joined by the opposition’s two most experienced national security figures – prepared a major ground offensive.

Initial domestic skepticism focused on the Israel Defense Forces’ ability to maneuver in Gaza’s tightly packed urban areas. Yet, writes Gat, “it has become clear, and not only to the surprise of the skeptics, that the IDF – both regular and reserve forces – is functioning at an extraordinary level through tight coordination, which may be unsurpassed by any other army in the world, among ground forces and the air force combined with other combat units and intelligence capabilities.”

Hamas’ ruthlessness and readiness provoked more skepticism. In flagrant violation of the international laws of war, the jihadists embedded their forces in cities. Only after the fighting had begun........

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