Amid the ongoing brutal aggression on the Gaza Strip, which has entered its second year, the Israeli "military" and "political" establishment is witnessing one of its most dangerous internal crises, threatening to collapse the entity's strategic cohesion. This comes at a time when signs of division between the political and military leadership are emerging in an unprecedented manner. Recent developments reveal that the internal conflict over the fate of the aggression on Gaza has turned into a fateful, even existential, confrontation, reflecting the depth of the strategic vacuum in which the "Israeli enemy" lives. What is meant by an existential crisis is that it touches upon the very essence of the expansionist settlement project upon which the entity has been built since its inception, relying on absolute military hegemony and control of Palestinian territories as the basis for its "legitimacy" both internally and externally. When the cohesion between the political and military leadership collapses around a fundamental strategic objective (such as the reoccupation of Gaza), this threatens the foundation upon which the Zionist project is based: the unity of military-political decision-making in managing the conflict with the Palestinians.
The enemy army rejects directives from the political echelon:
The relationship between the enemy's "Prime Minister" Benjamin Netanyahu (wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges) and the enemy army leadership has reached its worst point, after leaks revealed a decision by Netanyahu to permanently occupy the Gaza Strip with open American support. According to sources in the Israeli cabinet, Netanyahu presented a plan that includes occupying border areas in Gaza under the pretext of "securing the border and searching for prisoners." This plan is sponsored by the Trump administration, which had previously criticized the enemy's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.
However, the surprise was the reaction of the enemy army, which announced the evening before yesterday the cancellation of the state of combat emergency in effect since October 7, 2023, which forced regular soldiers to remain in service for an additional four months after the end of their conscription period. This decision means the start of the discharge of thousands of soldiers in the middle of this month, a move interpreted as an explicit rejection by the military leadership of Netanyahu's expansionist plan. Military analysts believe this move reflects "the military leadership's fatigue with the political persistence in an aggression without a clear strategic goal." "for him," especially with the mounting human and material losses. Haaretz newspaper revealed that 47 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since last March, while a high-ranking officer was moderately wounded in a bomb explosion in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, Tuesday. This confirms the Palestinian resistance's continued efforts to impose a difficult reality on the enemy.
The Right Escalates, and the "Army" Remains Intransigent
Attempts to pressure the Israeli army were not limited to the official political framework, but extended to public threats from the right. The designated Israeli Defense Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called on the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Eyal Zamir, to "adhere to the instructions of the political leadership, even if they include occupation and decisive action," indicating the necessity of implementing Netanyahu's plan without objection. However, the military response was swift, with the lifting of the state of emergency, sparking unprecedented anger among the political elite allied with the government.
In an exceptional development, Yair Netanyahu (son of the Israeli Prime Minister) attacked Chief of Staff Zamir, accusing him of a "military coup," describing the army's positions as "similar to the banana republic coups of the 1970s." Yair's statements came in response to military analyst Yossi Yehoshua's call for Netanyahu to clarify the costs of a potential military operation.
Yehoshua, the son of the Israeli prime minister, considered such demands "criminal" and a "rebellion against political legitimacy." However, this attack clearly reveals Netanyahu's attempt to turn the internal conflict into a matter of personal loyalty, while leaks indicate that those close to him are pressuring Zamir to resign if he does not join the plan to occupy Gaza.
Enemy experts warn of an existential catastrophe
Criticism was not limited to the military establishment; it extended to prominent former military leaders, who began to reveal the true depth of the entity's crises. In a striking statement, the former commander of the Israeli ground forces, Yiftah Ron-Tal, admitted that the entity is "approaching disaster with the continuation of its forces in Gaza," holding the "government" responsible for the failure to formulate a clear strategy. Ron-Tal emphasized that the enemy's inability to manage the situation on the ground in Gaza is undermining its alleged military gains, noting that the reserve forces are exhausted, and that the daily depletion of operations threatens to lead to a loss of combat capability.
Ron Tal also acknowledged the army's failure to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Over the course of a full year, it failed to establish an alternative administrative entity, which, he said, allowed the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to maintain control over the civilian sector. These admissions demonstrate that the aggression did not achieve any of its declared objectives, but rather complicated the situation, while the humanitarian tragedies in Gaza continue: more than 210,000 people were killed and wounded (including tens of thousands of children and women), 9,000 are missing, and hundreds of thousands are suffering from famine under the eyes of the world and with unlimited Western support for the entity, amidst complete disregard for the voices of free peoples and even for orders from the International Court of Justice to halt the aggression.
For his part, the so-called Israeli Defense Minister, Yisrael Katz, declared that "defeating Hamas and returning the hostages are the main goals," but he did not specify how this would be achieved in light of the strategic vacuum. His statements reveal a desperate attempt to link the continuation of the aggression to the fate of the hostages, while estimates indicate that 20 of the 50 hostages are still alive, while the resistance refuses to negotiate under the daily bombardment.
Where is the situation inside the entity heading?
All indications point to the aggression on Gaza currently heading toward two possible outcomes: either Netanyahu's continued imposition of a full occupation plan with American support, which will deepen the internal division and accelerate the depletion of the enemy's army, or his resignation.
Chief of Staff Zamir (as leaks indicate), and consequently the collapse of the military leadership, which will deprive the enemy of any ability to manage the field. In either case, the situation in Gaza will remain catastrophic, but the Palestinian resistance will gain more time to consolidate its position, while the enemy's international isolation increases.
More importantly, this internal crisis demonstrates that the Israeli enemy is no longer a cohesive entity. Rather, it is suffering from existential conflicts that threaten its internal disintegration, and are likely to increase. Meanwhile, popular exhaustion within the entity is growing due to daily losses. Conversely, the Palestinian resistance affirms that resistance is an unavoidable option, even if the aggression continues for decades.
