‘It will not be an occupation; the goal is to eliminate Hamas’
Stopping Hamas is not only an Israeli imperative, it is a Western one.
By Fiamma Nirenstein
JNS
Aug 8, 2025
It was an unusually candid moment. Speaking to a small group of journalists before Thursday night’s Security Cabinet meeting—a rare move in itself—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made something crystal clear: Israel’s upcoming operation in Gaza is not about permanent occupation.
The goal is to dismantle Hamas’s war machine and, at the right moment, hand administrative control to reliable international partners—trusted Arab states that understand the stakes.
But this will be a strategic shift. Israel will remain only where necessary to ensure that Gaza can never again serve as a launchpad for terror. The decision comes after 672 exhausting days of war—days marked by courage, sacrifice and national resilience, but also by deep wounds: tens of thousands injured, many psychologically scarred, families shattered, an economy under strain and a rising tide of antisemitism at home and abroad.
The Security Cabinet debate that led to this decision was fierce but ultimately unified. Netanyahu was determined to send in IDF forces to Gaza City and areas in the Gaza Strip not under Israeli control. Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir urged a more cautious approach, surrounding the remaining terror strongholds to protect the hostages’ lives.
Now reality has forced Israel’s hand: Hamas has flatly refused to release the captives. Those skeletal men, women, and children cannot wait. Israel cannot permit Hamas to continue torturing them to death, nor to keep plotting the next Oct. 7 from the tunnels of Gaza.
As U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio put it bluntly: “As long as Hamas exists as an armed group in Gaza, there will not be a peace; there will not be a peaceful future because it’s going to happen again and this can never happen again.”
Washington understands this. Unlike Europe, which continues to wring its hands and pressure Israel, the United States has chosen to work alongside the Jewish state toward ending the war on terms that secure its people.
The emerging plan zeroes in on Gaza City—a dense hub of a million people, with Hamas’s command entrenched beneath a vast human shield. Hostages are believed to be there. Israel would evacuate civilians to newly built humanitarian zones—camps, hospitals, aid centers—prepared over several weeks.
During this time, the IDF would pause its advance to allow safe passage and separate civilians from Hamas’s underground lairs. Sixteen new U.S.-supported aid centers would operate around the clock, delivering food and supplies. Once civilians are safe, the military would move in decisively.
This could be the turning point. Twenty years ago, Israel withdrew from Gaza, dismantling communities, leaving behind agricultural infrastructure in the hope that international aid and opportunity might foster a peaceful Palestinian neighbor. Instead, Hamas destroyed the greenhouses, tunneled for war and unleashed two decades of terror—culminating in the blood-soaked atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023.
Stopping Hamas is not only an Israeli imperative, it is a Western one. If the West cannot confront a genocidal Islamist movement after the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, it forfeits its own moral standing.
Yet Europe, obsessed with pushing for a Palestinian state with no borders, no leaders, and no safeguards, has perversely encouraged Hamas to reject yet another hostage deal. Rather than demanding Israel halt its campaign, European leaders should be calling on Hamas to surrender and release its victims. That would be the true test of whether they care about peace.
Israel has already paid a staggering price—over a thousand soldiers killed, and yet the army remains ready, united, and unmatched in its skill and resolve. The IDF is not fighting for a political faction, but for the hostages, for the safety of every citizen, and for a future where Hamas can never again drench this land in blood.
History will remember who stood with Israel in this fight—and who stood in the way.
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