Israel’s endgame in Gaza: Finish off Hamas where the war started

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A year into the war in Gaza, Israel is back at the site of its first battles and engaged in one of the most ferocious campaigns of the conflict, a do-over that offers a cautionary tale for its other war in Lebanon. Homed in on northern Gaza, Israel has issued evacuation orders for every town north of Gaza City and dispatched two new brigades, in what the military says is its latest attempt to eradicate Hamas from the enclave.

It is the third major offensive in the area since the start of the war. “Jabalia is falling," Israel’s Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi told troops on a visit this week to the northern area that was the initial focus of Israel’s invasion of the enclave. After killing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week, Israeli troops now needed to take out Hamas’s last remaining brigade in the north, Halevi said.

The air-and-ground offensive, which began at the start of the month, has been among the worst few weeks of the war, people living in the north say. Amneh Tarboush, a 20-year-old mother of two, says her family is trapped in Jabalia, a northern town with a labyrinthine refugee camp, running between damaged houses as fighting boxes them in. “They are bombing us from the air and snipers shoot at anyone who steps outside," Tarboush said of the Israeli military.

“We are living in constant fear." Israel says it provides civilians with evacuation routes and doesn’t target them. The fact that Israeli troops are still embroiled in areas of Gaza where they have fought before demonstrates how stubborn a task dismantling Hamas is proving to be for Israel. The experience against the Palestinian militants also offers sobering lessons for Israel’s military as it expands its war