GAZA: Why Israeli military thinks the offensive to be a mistake

The chief of staff of the Israeli defense forces IDF, Eyal Zamir, cannot be envied. The country’s highest soldier has received an order from the government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which he sees critically – or worse: considers a mistake. The IDF is to completely conquer Gaza City, the last remaining bastion of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The goal: finally eliminate the terrorist organization and free the remaining hostages.

The problem: The political and military leadership of the country have different opinions about how the goals can be achieved. And whether they can be reached at all. In meetings of the security cabinet and the intelligence agency shot. The Knesset recently sharply criticized the political leadership. He called for a hostage deal with Hamas instead of an invasion of Gaza Citys. Zamir accuses the government of having no plan for the time after the war and sees further risks. In his criticism, the lieutenant general is supported by many leadership officers, former generals and intelligence agents.

The military and the political risks that the IDF and Israel Taking the Gaza offensive are diverse-that is at stake.

Military and critics accuse Netanyahu and its government to consciously accept an increasing international isolation of the country and to put it on the military map solely. “Gaza burns”, defense minister Israel Katz tweeted after the soil offensive on X. Netanyahu recently said that Israel how “Athens and Sparta “must be. He meant that Israel will continue to continue the war until the goals have been achieved. Even threats of sanctions from Europe or warnings of Arab states do not bring Netanyahu’s government to rethink.

In addition, the suffering of the Palestinian population in Gaza does not matter in the considerations. A million people are said to have recently been in Gaza City. They were asked to flee in security zones in the south. Hundreds of thousands (IDF: 350,000) should have followed the call so far. So far, almost 65,000 Palestinians have died in the war. People live under miserable conditions, suffer from malnutrition and a lack of medical care. The allegations against Israel are therefore massive worldwide, regardless of what responsibility the Hamas bears.

The international isolation of Israel does not matter for Netanyahu because the USA is firmly at its side. As long as this is the case, nothing will change.

In particular, the fate of the hostages that are still about 20 living hostages and the critics of the soil offensive are worried. The chief of staff has made it clear several times that he considers another deal necessary to get it free. A military offensive includes too high risks. The army chief is said to have complained that there are hardly any secret service information on the locations. This feared horror scenario: Hamas uses the hostages as visible protective shields or executes them under the eyes of the public to trigger pressure on the Israeli government.

For the offensive, the IDF currently uses two divisions, i.e. at least 20,000 soldiers. A third party will be added in the coming days. According to the army estimates, 2000 to 3000 Hamas fighters are said to be in Gaza city, the military infrastructure in the form of tunnels is still there. To prepare the soil offensive, the Air Force systematically destroyed high -rise buildings, which could serve as a sniper nest and for surveillance, tank defense missile positions and surveillance cameras. Explosive traps that cost many Israeli soldiers are permanently eliminated.

If Israeli floor troops and tanks move in Gaza City, “Security against speed” applies to keep the risk of their own soldiers as low as possible. They meet Hamas militiaarians who are trained in the house fight. Therefore, a higher number of victims among IDF soldiers can be expected in the next few weeks. The army of fallen in 904 reported a total of September 9, 2025, 329 of which died on October 7, 2023 when Hamas entered Israel. Higher number of victims and exhausted soldiers can quickly lead to problems within the group. The same applies to the Israeli public. The resistance in the country against Netanyahu and its right-wing government could be larger.

The biggest point of criticism of chief of staff Zamir on the renewed offensive is the question: what comes afterwards? Netanyahu remains on this point – consciously? – spongy. The IDF wants to prevent longer military management in Gaza. She devours personnel and financial resources and is highly risky. It is not for nothing that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. A teaching of that time: militarily, the gaza strip for the experienced IDF is never completely manageable. The critics accuse Netanyahu an incalculable risk. Even worse: Many fear a kind of permanent war that ultimately harms Israel’s security rather than uses.

Anti -Semitism is already growing worldwide and it could be reinforced by the soil offensive. Anti -Jewish crimes are not only increasing rapidly in Germany. Jewish artists are boycotted and sporting events such as the bike race Vuelta, the third largest in the world, are disturbed by demonstrators because an Israeli team is driving along.