The Israeli army is “fundamentally reconceiving how it defends Israel, especially the towns closest to the Palestinian enclave,” writes Amir Bar Shalom.

The process will see the military shift away from more passive defensive measures to the adoption of a security doctrine that will see Gazans pushed away from the border and a beefed-up force along the fence actively engaged in keeping Israeli towns safe by building deterrence, according to a well-placed defense source who briefed the Times of Israel on the development of plans for securing the border with Gaza. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity.

On the Gaza side of the border, the building of tunnels will no longer be tacitly tolerated.

The IDF has said that a zero-tolerance approach to tunnel digging will be part of its post-war operational standards; any identification of tunnel digging will be immediately attacked on the ground or by air.

Actions on the Israel side

will include a line of military outposts to be built along the fence and next to communities near the border, [as well as] promising a massive military presence and immediate response to threats. . . .

On the morning of October 7, there were four IDF battalions stationed along the border with Gaza, comprising a few thousand soldiers. That number will now double, if not more.

Finally,

it’s clear that even after the war ends, troops will need to continue operating inside Gaza. Once the buffer zone is established, the army is hoping to build up deterrence by deploying an immediate response to any possible disturbance, keeping things from snowballing out of control. On Tuesday, for instance, forces in Khuza’a fired warning shots multiple times at Palestinian civilians trying to reach homes in the buffer zone.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.