As Israel mobilizes tens of thousands of troops for a potentially imminent new phase in its Gaza offensive, former Israeli security officials told JNS that the campaign to dismantle the remaining capabilities of the Hamas terror organization will separate it from Gazan civilians and fundamentally alter the Strip’s reality.
They argued that only decisive Israeli action can pave the way toward future stability. Israel stands on the cusp of a significant new stage in its ongoing war against Hamas, with the mobilization of tens of thousands of IDF reservists signaling preparations for a major offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The anticipated operation, codenamed “Gideon’s Chariots,” aims to accomplish what earlier phases have not: the full dismantling of Hamas’s military and governing infrastructure and the secure release of all remaining Israeli hostages.
The plan, approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet on May 4, 2025, and formulated by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir with the backing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, calls for a lengthy and comprehensive engagement.
On May 13, the IDF and Shin Bet carried out a major precision airstrike on an underground Hamas command center beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis. The strike targeted Mohammed Sinwar, the brother of the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and who served as the de facto Hamas military commander in Gaza.
‘Half the mission’
Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, former National Security Advisor to Netanyahu and former chairman of the National Security Council (2011–2013), now a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), told JNS that “so far, the IDF in Gaza has only completed half the mission.”
While Hamas may no longer pose a major threat to Israel from Gaza, Amidror emphasized that “it is still a threat to everyone in Gaza.” To prevent a future Hamas resurgence, he argued, “Hamas must be eliminated, down to the level of threat it poses today in Judea and Samaria.”
He continued, “That is the next phase of the mission, which will likely begin with [U.S. President Donald] Trump’s departure from the region. In Judea and Samaria, after the 2002 operation, it took four years to clean the area to a level of terrorism with which the people of Israel can live. In Gaza, it will take a year plus.”
Amidror argued that it is “important to emphasize that if we do not go through a long phase of fighting in Gaza for the thorough elimination of Hamas, no third party will help us.”
He said there are one of two options: Either a third party will not agree to enter the territory of the Gaza Strip—because it lacks the ability and will to fight Hamas—or it will enter, and to avoid fighting Hamas, the new ruler will allow Hamas to rearm and grow stronger.
“It is likely that we will need to continue fighting for at least a year, in order to clean the Strip of remnants of Hamas rule, terrorists, and infrastructure, and then and only then to try to bring in an entity that will be responsible for the civilian system. For me, this could even be the PA,” Amidror asserted.
The expected offensive involves a methodical, “clear-and-hold,” rather than clear-and-leave, approach. The goal is to systematically destroy Hamas’s remaining military infrastructure and eliminate its grip on governance. A critical component of the plan is to apply sustained pressure on Hamas’s leadership to secure a hostage release.
Shalom Arbel, a former senior official in the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) with extensive operational experience in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, and Lebanon, said that after more than 19 months of conflict, “the achievements of the war have not yet materialized.”
He pointed out that “Hamas still holds weapons, is still formally in power,” and tragically, 58 hostages remain in captivity, with only an estimated 21 believed to be alive.
Arbel attributed the current situation to a combination of prior Israeli policies, mistakes, external constraints—particularly from the previous U.S. administration and the international legal environment—and tactical errors in military planning, some due to objective challenges, others to flawed assumptions.
Future operation
The future operation, Arbel told JNS, will be an attempt “to strike, perhaps finally, at Hamas’s weaknesses—its soft underbelly.”
This can be done by separating “as much as possible between the non-combatant population and the combatant population in the Gaza Strip. And of course, to continue besieging and pressuring the combatant population, versus the non-combatant population, which will evacuate to sterile areas, to clean areas, where humanitarian aid can also reach.”
He said that’s what the IDF apparently intends to do.
“In addition, in a general atmosphere of pressure, siege, and endless elimination of Hamas operatives in the field—who understand that at any moment a missile might fall on them from the sky. That’s the situation, and the whole point is to bring Hamas to negotiations—somewhat more submissive, somewhat more ready,” he said.
Enabling voluntary civilian emigration of Gazans to those who want it is part of the Israeli approach in Gaza, according to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.
Arbel added that despite public bravado, Hamas’s terror operatives are exhausted. “We must understand—we see our own part and see what is happening on our side. We don’t see what’s happening there. And the situation there is beyond unbearable—it is literal hell. And the intention is to continue pressing, and the pressure is indeed expressed and seen.”
He said Hamas’s publication of hostage videos, almost weekly, shows the pressure.
“They want a deal, they want to end this, but on their terms. Yes,
they make strong noises of holding firm. What’s called in Arabic, ‘Subur.’ But it seems that it’s actually very difficult for them. And that’s the idea—to press and press until they arrive at negotiations on the hostages.”
The next phase of operations is set to target what Arbel called Hamas’s secret strength: Operating from within civilian population areas and sites like hospitals. “In all countries of the world, it’s shown: Israel bombed a hospital,” he explained. “That’s how the images are shown in the world, and Israel is portrayed as a criminal. And then Israel is brought to The Hague and the international campaign against Israel is at its peak.”
“And of course, the propaganda, the messaging, or the Islamic extremist propaganda is at its peak. That’s the agenda, essentially. That is the cunning and deceitful recipe of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas is from the Muslim Brotherhood,” he stated.
This tactic would be largely neutralized once Israel separated the civilians of Gaza from the Hamas terrorists, he argued.
“The foundation of Hamas is children and women and the elderly who protect it. And here, of course, they no longer protect it. Here is the explanation of the benefit of holding territory and establishing a humanitarian zone. And that is a shift in the Israeli approach,” he said.
Arbel asserted that Netanyahu “is acting correctly in not publishing a political [post-war] plan. It’s not that Israel is not going in a direction that has a plan. It’s simply that it cannot be stated [yet].”
Overall, said Arbel, the plan is “to continue, even during war, to build
the land and become stronger and be here as a solid fact—a state not of 8 million, but of 10 million, 12 million, 15 million, 20 million in 20 years —so that even a thousand times the Palestinians will not be able to remove it, and will not be able to harm it.”
He also said continued PA control over Area A in Judea and Samaria (territory under Palestinian administrative authority) would allow Israel to avoid the need to directly rule over the Palestinian population living there.
He added, “I remind you that just 30, 40, 50 years ago, Israel was not an established fact. And as time goes by, it has become one. For me, that is the plan: a strong State of Israel and no other state between the sea and the river.”
