Israel’s current large-scale operation is the last one in Gaza

AS ISRAEL’S OFFENSIVE in Gaza ends its tenth week there is little sign that it is lessening in intensity. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have deployed an entire airborne division in and around the southern city of Khan Younis, where it believes that senior leaders of Hamas, which on October 7th murdered 1,200 Israelis and took 240 people hostage, are now holed up. Three armoured divisions are still operating in the northern sector. Fierce fighting has been occurring in the Shujaiya and Jabalia areas of Gaza city. The IDF is destroying tunnels, where Hamas fighters take refuge, and infrastructure, both military and civilian, in the city and its outskirts. Israel’s bombardment continues: more than 18,000 Gazans, mostly civilians, have died.

Yet the current large-scale offensive is almost certainly the last of the war against Hamas. “We have been at peak deployment for over two months now,” said one security official. “The next stage will be a lower-intensity mobile campaign.” The big question for Israeli generals is whether that shift will thwart Israel’s main war aim: destroying the military capabilities of Hamas, the Islamist group bent on destroying Israel that has governed Gaza for 16 years.