Within the countless pieces of the puzzle that make up the overall picture, the most important component is the performance of the IDF. The Israel Defense Forces, and only it, is the guarantee of victory.
From the point of view of the War Cabinet, a month after the shock of starting the war under difficult conditions, with all the necessary caution, and in the hope that this will continue, the feeling is that the IDF is living up to expectations.
The activity of the 36th Division forces during the fighting | IDF Spokesperson
Our forces managed to enter the Gaza Strip, significantly harm Hamas, penetrate the tunnels, work in wonderful coordination between the air and ground forces, move 800,180 Gazans southward, avoid excessive harm to the Arab population, cause <> wounded from Shifa to move south, maintain (thank God) a relatively low number of casualties in the ground battle, slightly improve the intelligence picture about our abductees that Hamas is holding in violation of all international law, And to act on the northern front with such wisdom, which harms Hezbollah but prevents the opening of a second front on a full scale.
These achievements, which we hope will be preserved and grow, give the political echelon modest confidence that we can rise from the stunning blow we suffered at Simchat Torah. With a rather freezing coolness, to put it that way, Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as his colleagues in the conduct of the war, put aside the pains, sorrows and accounts of the past, and are completely focused on the task of victory. There are those among the policymakers whose children are in the heart of Gaza, so the significance of the decisions they make is clear to them.
IDF attack in the Gaza Strip, photo: AP.
With past experience, and certainly after Black Sabbath, the political leadership knows that success is not guaranteed, that Hamas is a dangerous, evil and cunning enemy, and that at any moment the picture could change and even be reversed. However, as long as the trend is positive, and it is positive, the army's performance allows the political echelon to begin calculating the next steps, both regarding the abductees – there are glimmers of hope for them – and regarding the day after the war.
Who will be the entity that will rule Gaza the day after is still unknown. But what is known is that Hamas will not be there militarily or civilianly, and that the content of hatred on which it educated generations of Arabs will also stop. In other words, it is clear to Israel's political leadership that it is not enough to topple Hamas' military and governmental power, but that the minds that have been producing military and terrorist attacks on Israel for decades must be addressed. "Denazification," a political source defined this mission. And not only in Gaza it will be implemented, but also in Judea and Samaria, sooner or later.
The activity of the 36th Division in the Gaza Strip,
Second, Israel's security control over Gaza is irreversible. The IDF entered it with enormous forces and in fact will never leave. After what happened on Simchat Torah, no one will take the risk of abandoning our security to subcontractors.
In the north, too, things will not be as they were. Hezbollah is already suffering casualties and losing assets. In addition, large IDF forces will remain on the northern border anyway for a very long time to ensure that the Simchat Torah scenario does not ever happen again. This will require the enlargement of the army and the allocation of additional economic resources. But at a heavy price in blood, we learned that this investment is worth every penny.
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