Netanyahu and Israeli officials appear to signal a new phase in Gaza war

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had signaled a hift in the way Israel wages its war in the Gaza Strip: a new and less intense “phase” in the fighting.

TEL AVIV — Over the past week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have signaled a paradigm shift in the way the country wages its nearly nine-month war in the Gaza Strip: a new and less intense “phase” in the fighting.

Israel has billed the new tactics as a sign of success aimed at freeing up personnel and equipment for the country’s northern front, where the fight with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia based in neighboring Lebanon, has been heating up so much that the U.S. is readying to evacuate its citizens. 

But for some, the transition has also been seen as a tacit admission that Israel’s dual — and at times dueling — military objectives in Gaza are impossible to achieve in tandem. That destroying Hamas and freeing the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza cannot be done together and that Israel’s attempt to do so has left both goals unrealized.

“Whoever defined these goals should have thought about the conflicting nature of that,” said a former senior Israeli military officer who asked to be quoted anonymously so that he could speak candidly about ongoing Israeli military policy. 

“They didn’t understand that the hostages are limiting their operation. And the hostages’ clock is not synchronized with the time needed to dismantle Hamas,” the former officer said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-new-phase-netanyahu-rcna158982

---