Israel Launches Major New Offensive in Gaza

Israel launched an extensive new campaign aimed at seizing control of more of the Gaza Strip as it seeks a definitive end to the war there.

A post on the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) X page said that the campaign was named Operation Gideon’s Chariots, a reference to the ancient Jewish military leader whose exploits are documented in Jewish and Christian holy texts.

A post on the IDF’s English-language channel did not mention the operation’s name, but said that gaining further “operational control” over more of Gaza would contribute to its stated objectives in the war against Hamas, which Israel and the United States designate as a terrorist organization.

“This is part of preparations to expand operations and fulfill the objectives of the war—including the release of hostages and the dismantling of the Hamas terrorist organization,” the post read. “IDF troops will continue to operate in order to protect Israeli civilians and achieve the objectives of the war.”

Local health authorities in Gaza, which operate under the control of Hamas, said that 459 people had been killed in the most recent round of strikes. That number marks the deadliest escalation of the war since March, when cease-fire negotiations failed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously hinted on May 5 that Israel was planning an expanded, intensive offensive against Hamas as his security cabinet approved plans that could involve seizing the entire Gaza Strip and controlling aid in the embattled territory.

That same day, the IDF began mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists and has since amassed significant numbers of armored units along the front lines.

Israel has said that Hamas is still holding 58 hostages from its surprise assault on Oct. 7, 2023—during which more than 1,200 were killed and 251 were abducted—but only 23 of them are believed to be alive.

Speaking earlier in the week, Netanyahu doubled down on the burgeoning new offensive, saying that he would not stop the assault even if Hamas released all of its remaining hostages, and would continue regardless until Hamas was completely destroyed.

“We can make a cease-fire for a certain period of time, but we’re going to the end,” he said.

The conflict in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when nearly 6,000 members of Hamas and an assortment of other like-minded groups crossed the border into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages back into Gaza.

The health ministry in Gaza stated that the ensuing conflict has killed at least 52,800 Palestinians. The numbers do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, and they cannot be independently verified.

Israel has disputed those numbers, and Netanyahu has suggested that the IDF has killed approximately one civilian for every Hamas member killed.

A peer-reviewed analysis published in The Lancet earlier this year, meanwhile, suggested that mortality rates for the war may actually be much higher, and that Gaza health authorities may have under-reported deaths by as much as 41 percent.

What will become of the nearly 2 million Palestinians displaced from their homes due to the conflict remains unclear.

President Donald Trump has suggested permanently moving Palestinians to a different country and sending in U.S. troops to occupy and reconstruct the territory into a U.S.-controlled tourist destination to prevent further conflicts in the war-torn region.

That idea has been roundly rejected by international leaders, however, with Arab leaders in particular condemning any plan that would impede upon Palestinians’ rights to self-determination in their ancestral territory.

It also remains unclear how Palestinians could be relocated should they wish to stay in Gaza.