Israel’s offensive-driven security doctrine is primarily based on the document titled “IDF Strategy,” authored in 2015 by then-Chief of the General Staff, Major General Gadi Eisenkot. This strategy, designed as a multilayered and perpetual warfare doctrine to confront both state and non-state actors, will be analyzed in this article in terms of its application and level of success in the ongoing war involving Hamas, Iran, and its proxy force Hezbollah.

Israel’s Military Strategy

The Israeli Defense Strategy is structured around the elimination of non-state actors such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, who struggle for the liberation of occupied Palestinian territories and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Furthermore, the strategy aims at subjugating and, when deemed appropriate, dismantling existing states in the so-called “Promised Land.” Although labeled a “defense strategy,” it is, in practice, a policy of continuous aggression—designed to instill fear across the region and to promote a climate in which no state feels secure. Thus, it manifests as a form of regional state terrorism.

The IDF Strategy, which shapes Israel’s security policies and institutions, rests on four core principles:

The IDF Strategy adopts a multilayered security approach designed to neutralize threats and achieve strategic objectives. It is configured for simultaneous, multi-domain operations—air, land, sea, and cyber—across multiple fronts. The offensive dimension of this strategy consists of rapid, high-intensity, and, when necessary, tens of thousands of simultaneous surprise attacks on enemy decision-making centers.

The “Campaign Between Wars” (Mabam Strategy)

What distinguishes the IDF Strategy from other conventional military doctrines is its systematic reliance on the “Campaign Between Wars”—commonly known as the Mabam Strategy. This approach allows the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to engage in constant low-intensity warfare, even in the absence of open conflict. Its aims include the prevention of future wars, enhancement of deterrence, securing operational superiority, and the gradual degradation of enemy capabilities.

This so-called "peacetime" low-intensity warfare involves targeted airstrikes, assassinations, sabotage, cyber operations, and intelligence interventions—often conducted on the sovereign territories of other states. The “warfare without war” doctrine, in this form, stands in clear violation of international law.

Another key component of the IDF Strategy is the Dahiya Doctrine, developed following the 2006 Lebanon War. This doctrine advocates the use of disproportionate force against both military and civilian infrastructure in enemy territories to inflict maximum damage and thereby erode public support for hostile actors.

The continuation of this analysis will further explore the operational limitations and strategic failures Israel has encountered when attempting to implement this doctrine against a coordinated axis of resistance composed of Hamas, Iran, and Hezbollah.

The IDF Strategy Collapsed in the Face of Hamas

The attack launched by Hamas on October 7, 2023—referred to as the “Al-Aqsa Flood”—constituted an operation that fundamentally dismantled the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) core strategic doctrine. Despite maintaining a blockade on Gaza since 2006, Israel suffered an unprecedented surprise assault and heavy casualties, which have widely been interpreted by security experts as a “strategic failure.” The Deterrence pillar of the IDF Strategy proved ineffective against Hamas, while the glaring intelligence failures revealed that the much-vaunted Early Warning systems did not function as claimed. Since October 7, the search for those responsible for this security lapse continues, fueling deep tensions and mistrust between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel’s military-intelligence establishment.

On that day, Hamas was able to breach the so-called “smart wall” surrounding Gaza—constructed with over one billion dollars in investment and equipped with advanced technologies such as radars, automated machine guns, and thermal cameras. The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, infiltrated through 22 different points, successfully capturing hundreds of Israeli hostages. The Israeli army, caught off guard and unable to maintain its command structure, resorted to activating the notorious “Hannibal Directive,” resulting in the deaths of hundreds of its own citizens through indiscriminate tank and helicopter fire.

It became evident that Hamas had thoroughly deconstructed the IDF’s military doctrine, penetrated Israeli intelligence, and effectively neutralized units responsible for constant alertness and early detection—leaving Israel vulnerable at its core. The nature and scope of the attack underscored the Israeli military’s underestimation of Hamas’s capabilities and its arrogant misreading of the enemy.

Staggered by the shock of these initial blows, Israel was only able to regain composure with massive support from the United States and other Western allies—who provided direct military, intelligence, and political assistance.

However, despite such extensive external backing—including the active participation of foreign intelligence services and military personnel—the Israeli army failed to enter Hamas’s tunnel networks, rescue hostages, or break the resistance. Apart from launching massive aerial bombardments resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, leveling residential areas, and weaponizing starvation, the IDF could not demonstrate a concrete military achievement. Outside of battlefield casualties, Israel was unable to eliminate Hamas’s leadership in Gaza through targeted assassinations, nor did it succeed in penetrating Hamas’s disciplined internal command structure through intelligence leaks.

The Israeli Defense Strategy, which relies on combining warfare with diplomacy and justifying every illegal act under the guise of “self-defense” to gain international impunity, collapsed after October 7. The scale of atrocities committed by Israel led numerous states and global public opinion to label the country as a genocidal rogue state, severely isolating it on the international stage. The issuance of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for Prime Minister Netanyahu marked a profoundly humiliating defeat for Israel on the diplomatic front.

Israel’s Mabam Strategy Failed to Deter Hamas—and Was Strategically Turned Against It

Israel’s so-called Mabam Strategy (Campaign Between Wars) failed to achieve deterrence against Hamas; in fact, it was strategically reversed and used against Israel with calculated precision. Built around the principle of preemptive action and known for its proactive, offensive doctrine, Israel was itself subjected—on its own territory—to a coordinated onslaught of “rapid, intense, and simultaneous attacks” on October 7. Cyber operations and intelligence-based deception tactics, typically........

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