Indications suggest a shift in Israel’s strategic goals. Here are the recent developments…

On October 7, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu committed to a robust military response against Hamas:

“The IDF will immediately use all its strength to destroy Hamas’s capabilities,” Netanyahu declared. “We will destroy them.”
Now, three months into the conflict, Israel’s military strategy against Hamas in Gaza appears to be entering a new phase, with evolving objectives.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have claimed significant achievements, including the elimination of thousands of Hamas fighters. However, the conflict has unfolded amidst growing international concern over the severe humanitarian crisis and the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza.

Recent key developments include:

– In an Israeli airstrike near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, seven Palestinian men were killed, as reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israel acknowledged the airstrike and labeled the deceased as “terrorists.” Palestinian news agency WAFA stated that four of the killed were brothers. The IDF did not provide specific reasons for categorizing them as “terrorists.”
– Israel has appointed British lawyer Malcolm Shaw to represent it at the International Court of Justice, where it faces genocide allegations. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat confirmed this to CNN.
– Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh lost his son in a reported Israeli airstrike that also killed two journalists. This follows the earlier deaths of his wife, two children, and a grandchild in a strike.
– Over a 24-hour period between Friday and Saturday, at least 122 people were killed and 265 injured by Israeli airstrikes, as per Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry. At Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, staff struggled to treat severely wounded individuals. CNN noted it could not independently verify these casualty figures.
– The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has rejected Israel’s proposals regarding the future of Gaza. The PLO, which renounced armed resistance in 1993, establishing the Palestinian Authority, emphasized that the Gaza Strip’s future is for the Palestinian people to decide, not Israel.
– There are increasing concerns about a broader conflict as Hezbollah announced it had fired 62 rockets at an Israeli observation post on the Israel-Lebanon border. This was in response to the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Beirut. Over 100 locations in northern Israel received red alerts for potential rocket fire. Hezbollah, a significant Lebanese paramilitary group, is one of several Iranian proxy groups involved in heightened tensions across the Middle East.