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Source: https://nationalinterest.org/feature/what-israel-needs-207475
Israel Needs Time, Ammunition, and Continued U.S. Support to Win Its War with Hamas
(National Interest) Michael Makovsky - Israel's most pressing need is time. Israeli leaders believe their campaign to destroy Hamas is going well, proceeding faster and incurring fewer IDF casualties than visiting American generals expected. But the IDF needs time to maintain its meticulous pace of rooting out Hamas terrorists hiding behind civilians and below ground in the dense urban Gazan environment. If the IDF went faster, it could risk more IDF and Palestinian casualties. Israel also needs a great deal of ammunition, to maintain its campaign against Hamas and be ready should Hizbullah in Lebanon increase the severity of its daily attacks. Israeli officials are very appreciative of the steady American supply of weapons, but they need more to maximize battlefield effectiveness and limit collateral damage. The IDF must destroy Hamas so Israelis can again feel safe to live in their towns near the Gaza border (over 100,000 have been evacuated since the Oct. 7 massacre). This will include the creation of a demilitarized buffer zone a few kilometers deep within Gaza to help ensure the border is secure. The IDF must restore deterrence. Iran and many other Islamists have long believed Israel is in decline and will eventually disappear. Israel's fierce retaliation has created immense destruction in Gaza. That has damaged Israel's international position and triggered antisemitic attacks in the West, but it must give pause to Hizbullah as it ponders what would happen if it attacked Israel. Former Israeli national security advisor IDF Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror insists Israel could not survive in the Middle East if Israel did not make a clear example of Hamas - that any actor who conducts an attack on the order of Oct. 7 against Israel will be completely annihilated militarily. The writer, a former Pentagon official, is president and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA).