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Can the War in Gaza Be Won?

(Foreign Affairs) Maj. (ret.) John Spencer - It is hard to have an objective, fact-based debate about Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza when the debaters have no shared definition of war. When I teach students about wars, I highlight that wars always have both underlying causes and triggering events. World War I and World War II, for example, had clear underlying causes, triggering events, and start and finish dates. But not all conflicts are so cut-and-dried; some can go on for decades, with multiple wars waged as underlying problems remain unresolved. The current war between Israel and Hamas is one such example of a discrete war within a wider conflict. The Hamas invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was the triggering event; the underlying problems include a complex history over land ownership, sovereignty, and rights, as well as Hamas's radical belief that Israel should not exist. But there was no justification for Hamas's actions. The day before, a ceasefire had been in place between Hamas and Israel. Hamas broke that ceasefire. I have visited Gaza three times since Oct. 7. My analysis of the war is based on what I saw, not on Israeli statements, Hamas's statements, or videos on social media. I observed both IDF operations and Hamas activities in Gaza firsthand. I witnessed the IDF taking extraordinary steps to mitigate civilian harm and imposing restraints on the use of force as it undertook what may be the greatest urban warfare challenge in modern history. I saw the IDF tracking the movement of civilians and handing out maps to facilitate localized evacuations, pausing the fighting every day for hours at a time to allow civilians to get out of harm's way and humanitarian aid to be delivered, and in many cases not permitting operations in areas where civilians were present. I also saw Hamas's cruel use of Gazans as human shields; the tunnels the group built under civilian homes, mosques, and schools; and the militants' complete lack of care for civilian life. Hamas did not say it conducted the Oct. 7 attacks to advance self-determination, human rights, or prosperity for the Palestinian people. The group's stated goal was to destroy the nation of Israel and kill all the Jewish people within it, and none of its actions since suggest it has other objectives in mind. Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007 and started attacking Israel in 2008. The only way to break the cycle of violence and radicalization in Gaza is for Israel to continue, through legal and methodical means, to remove Hamas from military and political power. The writer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point.
2024-11-19 00:00:00
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