Israel is entering a new phase of Gaza war

Israel’s occupation Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on 7 January that the Israeli army will soon be shifting to a new phase of the war.

Gallant said Israel will switch from the “intense maneuvering phase of the war” to “different types of special operations.”

This next phase “will last for a longer time,” the defense chief said. Gallant promised that Israel will not abandon its goal of eradicating Hamas or putting an end to its presence in Gaza.

Israel has been carrying out limited withdrawals of its forces from the Gaza Strip, following continued pressure from the US to scale back the ground war and reduce harm to civilians. However, the bombardment remains indiscriminate and the death toll in Gaza – already more than 22,100 martyrs – is on the rise.

Ground operations, while more limited than before, are ongoing and are now focusing on the south of Gaza – where a massive chunk of the Gaza’s population is stranded after being displaced from the north and elsewhere.

“We need to take into consideration the huge number of civilians. It will take some time. But we aren’t going to give up,” Gallant said.

Gallant explained that Israel is “fighting an axis, not a single enemy … Iran is building up military power around Israel in order to use it.”

Meanwhile, the threat of escalation on the Lebanese front is growing, particularly after the Israeli strike on Beirut on 2 January.

On 2 January, Israel carried out a drone strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing prominent Hamas commander Saleh al-Arouri. Tel Aviv did not acknowledge the strike, but said that “whoever” carried it out was targeting Hamas, not Hezbollah or the Lebanese state.

Hezbollah considered the attack a major escalation, and it was widely considered to be an attempt to drag Lebanon into a full-scale war. The Lebanese resistance carried out an “initial” response on Saturday, striking a strategic airbase around five miles from the border.

An Israeli strike on south Lebanon on 8 January killed Wissam al-Tawil, a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Unit, which is stationed all across the border with Israel. He was killed alongside another fighter when their car was targeted in the village of Majdal Selm.

Western officials are said to be continuously in contact with Tel Aviv and Beirut in order to push for de-escalation and a diplomatic solution. However, crossfire on the border continues to intensify and Israel’s strikes are hitting deeper and deeper into Lebanese territory.

Gallant went on to tell WSJ that Israel can “copy-paste” the destruction of Gaza onto Lebanon.

Experts believe that Israel’s limited troop withdrawals from Gaza recently and the upcoming ‘new phase’ signify that Israel may be gearing up for a greater regional conflict, which would include a major flare-up of the situation in Lebanon.

“Don’t be lulled by the Israeli troop withdrawal from northern Gaza. Tel Aviv has no intention of ending this war, and is escalating on all its other fronts, including with Lebanon, The Cradle’s Hassan Illaik wrote.