Since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been under pressure from both the US and members of the government to submit a clear administration plan for the post-war Gaza.

Proponents of the plan believe that only with an exit strategy can there be stability and warn that otherwise the conflict could flare up in the future.

Retired Israeli general Giorah Eiland echoes the same concern, saying Israel believes Israel still has months of fighting in Gaza ahead of it unless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seizes the opportunity presented by the death of Hamas leader Yahya. Sinuar, to end the war.

Eiland was one of a number of former senior army officers who after Sinwar’s death questioned the government’s strategy in Gaza, where earlier this month troops returned to areas of the north they had already cleared at least twice before.

For the past three weeks, Israeli troops have been operating around Jabalia, in northern Gaza, where they have returned to both the city and its historic refugee camp for the third time since the war began in October 2023.

Many former security officials who support a different approach by the Israeli military to the battlefield of swift and decisive action warn that the army risks becoming bogged down in an open-ended campaign that requires a permanent troop presence.

“The Israeli government is acting in complete opposition to the concept of Israel’s security,” Yom-Tov Shamia, former head of the army’s Southern Command, told Kan public radio.

Part of the army’s operation in Jambalia is the removal of thousands of people from the area in an attempt to separate civilians from Hamas fighters.

The army says it has displaced around 45,000 civilians from the area around Jabalia and killed hundreds of militants during the operation. However, it has come under heavy criticism for the high number of civilian casualties that have also been reported, while the international community has increased calls for more aid supplies to ease the humanitarian crisis in the region.

Eiland, a former head of Israel’s National Security Council, was the main author of a much-discussed proposal dubbed “the generals’ plan,” which would have Israel quickly remove civilians from northern Gaza and then starve them out. the surviving Hamas fighters by cutting off their water and food supplies.

The Israeli army’s moves this month have prompted criticism from Palestinians that the army has implemented the Island plan, which they say is aimed at permanently clearing the area to create a safe zone for after the war.

The military has denied pursuing any such plan, and Island himself believes the strategy adopted is neither his plan nor a classic occupation.

“I don’t know exactly what’s going on in Jabalia,” Eiland told Reuters. “But I think the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is doing something that is between the two alternatives, the usual military attack and my plan,” he said.

Netanyahu: We do not plan to stay in Gaza

From the beginning of the war, Netanyahu stated that Israel would bring the hostages home and dismantle Hamas as a military and governmental force, and not stay in Gaza.

But his government has never formulated a clear policy on the goal of the campaign, which began after the October 7, 2023, attack.

For months there have been open disagreements between Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallad, reflecting a wider split between the ruling coalition and the military, which has long favored a deal to end the fighting and return the hostages home. .

Without an agreed strategy, Israel risks being stuck in Gaza for the foreseeable future, said Ofer Shelah, director of the Israel National Security Policy research program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

“The situation for Israel is very precarious right now. We are sliding towards a situation where Israel is considered the de facto ruler of Gaza,” he said.

We knock and leave

With Israel’s military focus now turning against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, the number of army divisions involved in Gaza has been reduced to two, compared to five at the beginning of the war. According to estimates from Israeli security sources, there are 10,000-15,000 soldiers in each division of the IDF.

The Israeli military estimates that the 25 Hamas battalions it believed Hamas had at the start of the war have long since been destroyed, and about half the force, or about 17,000-18,000 fighters, have been killed. However, groups of militants remain to carry out raids on Israeli troops.

“We don’t engage with tanks on the ground, we pick our targets,” said a Hamas fighter contacted by Reuters via a chat app. “We act in a way that allows us to compete for as long as possible.”

While such tactics will not prevent the Israeli military from moving around Gaza at will, they still have the potential to impose significant costs on Israel.

The commander of Israel’s 401st Armored Brigade was killed in Gaza this week when he got out of his tank to speak with other commanders at an observation post where militants had planted a bomb. He was one of the senior officers killed in Gaza during the war. Three soldiers were killed on Friday.

“With the killing of Sinwar, there is no reason to stay in Gaza,” said a former senior military official with direct experience of the enclave, who asked not to be named.

“Methodical” precision operations in the future will have to be carried out if Hamas regroups and resumes any war on Israel, but the risk of leaving troops permanently in Gaza is a big risk, the former official said.

Netanyahu’s office said on Thursday that Israeli negotiators will go to Qatar this weekend to participate in talks on a ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages. But what Hamas’ position will be and who Israel will allow to run the enclave when the fighting stops remains unclear.

Netanyahu has denied any plans to stay in Gaza or allow Israeli settlers to return, as many Palestinians fear.

But the hardline pro-settler parties in his coalition and his own Likud party would like nothing more than to reverse former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s 2005 unilateral removal of Israeli settlers.