Weeks into the Israeli ground incursion in the besieged Gaza Strip, it can be concluded that the Zionist regime’s goal is to target civilians and to do away with the notion of defeating Hamas militarily. Not only have the Israeli army failed to inflict a significant blow on the Palestinian resistance, but they have also made their primary targets hospitals.

At the beginning of the war on Gaza, following the Hamas-led October 7 operation, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to “crush” the Islamic Resistance Movement in the besieged Gaza Strip. The language that was also used by Israeli Security Minister, Yoav Gallant, had been similar, as he labeled Gazans as “human animals”. It suffices to say, that from the offset, the Zionist regime had openly vowed to collectively punish the entire population of Gaza, cutting water, food, electricity, food, medical aid, and later denying even the means of communicating with the outside world. If we track the Israeli public statements, be it from the Israeli PM or the Security Minister or President, there was a clearly open declaration that they were targeting the Palestinian people in Gaza and not just the Resistance groups.

When the Israelis and their American co-conspirators speak of "eliminating" Hamas, they never say explicitly what this alleged pursuit to “crush” Hamas will actually look like. If we go by the public statements that have been issued by the Israeli military, its political leadership, and even the representatives of the US Biden administration, we will see that the goals are constantly evolving and shifting. We have heard of plans to re-occupy the Gaza Strip and we have also seen the Americans come out in opposition to this idea. Then we hear about the potential of destroying the tunnel infrastructure that belongs to the Palestinian Resistance, in addition to talks of assassinating prominent leaders within Hamas. There have at times been indications that the Israeli army is also seeking to reach and re-capture their prisoners of war (POWs).

Despite the unclear set of goals, or rather aspirations, of the Israeli military’s war on Gaza, the reality on the ground is looking starkly different. What is observable is the clear refusal of the Zionist armed forces to deploy sufficient infantry beside their military vehicles, which has left their tanks, armored personnel carriers, and militarized bulldozers open to attack on the battlefield. The footage that we have seen released by the Palestinian Resistance factions - most prominently al-Quds Brigades of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement and from al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas - has revealed dozens of attacks that either damaged or destroyed Israeli military vehicles, with evidence of attacks from zero-distance against Israeli troop gatherings. On the other hand, the Israeli military’s videos have shown tank strikes on targets, without proof of a Palestinian fighter being present there, Even the videos that have been released of their infantry opening fire have not shown direct hits on any confirmed fighters.

The casualty tolls from both the Palestinian Resistance and the Zionist armed forces are currently unclear, yet what we can say is that while the Resistance factions have clearly performed beyond their expected capabilities, there has not been a single significant military blow that has been dealt to Hamas. “Israel” and its US allies, who are responsible for this war, spent weeks building the narrative that the key locations and command centers for the Palestinian Resistance were situated inside or underneath hospitals. The Israeli media, leadership, along with the White House, claimed that Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City was a key location for Hamas. 

Al-Shifa takeover was predictable. In fact, I had personally, for the week prior, been repeatedly stating that the Israeli military would show up for a photo op and fly the Israeli flag over the hospital’s facilities while claiming that they found weapons. To no great surprise, this is exactly what happened. What I and others did not anticipate was the unserious nature of the Israeli military’s fake crime scene setups, which have been widely mocked across social media for their Looney Tunes-esque presentations. 

Related News

Bolivar's Ideas, anti-imperialism, and the current situation in the Caribbean

Iran and the NPT: Opposition justified

So far, the only discernible goals of the attack on Gaza are as follows:

1- Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is seeking to buy time in order to build the necessary arguments needed to remain in office or protect his future when the war ends.

2- “Israel” and the US are seeking to restore their deterrence image in the region, which is being done at the expense of the civilian population of Gaza and the territory’s infrastructure.

3- The Zionist entity is looking to inflict such a blow to the civilian population that it will necessitate either the mass ethnic cleansing of the Gazan people outside of the territory or will create new facts on the ground that will, in theory, weaken the Palestinian Resistance.

4- The unhinged genocidal attack on the people of Gaza is a direct message to Iran, Hezbollah, and other regional Resistance movements.

The massacres that are being carried out every single day in Gaza are not random; they are designed to terrorize, humiliate, and demoralize the Palestinian people because the Zionists understand that they cannot defeat the Palestinian Resistance. There will be no crushing of Hamas; it is a mission impossible, so the Israeli military is attempting to crush the civil society sector in Gaza, dismantle the civil administration, and pressure the civilian population. It is a brutal and inhumane strategy that views all the Palestinian people as valid military targets. It seeks to collectively punish all of them as they would do with active combatants.

What is clear is that there is no path to a military victory in the Gaza Strip for the Israelis, so they are seeking a victory over the people. However, the further they take their murderous campaign, the higher the chance is for a regional conflict that will slowly engulf the entity in flames. The strategy by the Resistance is a clear-cut guerilla war, making the enemy bleed until it collapses or retreats, while the regional Resistance forces slowly turn up the heat in order to have the US step in to stop the Israelis or to force the Israelis themselves to collapse under the pressure. There are two ways that this fight can end: an Israeli retreat under US supervision and a ceasefire or a regional conflict that will spell the end of the Zionist regime altogether. The latter option will be extremely bloody on all sides. It will likely involve the US directly and could result in the use of nuclear weapons. The situation is very clear; the Israeli war on Gaza is one of extermination against the civilian population, and this is being conducted with US support and at their behest.