Gaza has faced war’s devastation before. Swaths of the Strip were damaged by Israeli bombings during conflicts with Hamas in 2008, 2014 and 2021. But the length and intensity of Israel’s latest operation — launched in response to Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 cross-border attack — has resulted in what the United Nations calls an unprecedented scale of destruction.
“What will be the depth of the invasion? How much will be cleared? We don’t know,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former major general and Israeli national security adviser. “It will be decided depending on the achievements on the ground.”
The IDF has described the ground operations in Lebanon so far as “limited, localized and targeted” raids within a few miles of the border. But the large amount of tanks and thousands of troops now amassed in the north point to planning for a much larger foray than the one Israel has telegraphed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given little away in terms of plans, other than vowing to keep striking Hezbollah with “full force” until it is possible for the more than 60,000 residents displaced along Israel’s northern border to return home. Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel last Oct. 8, a day after the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw more than 250 taken hostage.