For Now, Victory Is Still Within Reach: 10 Truths About the Gaza War, 20 Months In

Israeli Troops Are Again Maneuvering Inside Gaza, Hoping This Will Be the Knockout Blow; But Hamas Is Still Fighting and Doesn’t Seem Desperate for a Deal

More than 600 days after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, Israeli soldiers are once again ramping up an operation that, the country’s leaders say, is the key to finally winning the war.

More than 600 days after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, Israeli soldiers are once again ramping up an operation that, the country’s leaders say, is the key to finally winning the war.

Shutterstock

More than 600 days after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, Israeli soldiers are once again ramping up an operation that, the country’s leaders say, is the key to finally winning the war.

In the meantime, hostages remain in Gaza, it is still unclear what exactly will lead to Hamas’s defeat, and Israel’s standing in the world continues to slip.

We don’t know what will happen next — whether more hostages will be released, when the war will come to an end, what the promised total victory will constitute, and what Israel’s relationships abroad will look like in the aftermath.

Still, there are core insights into the war and its wider context that can help understand here the campaign stands now, and where it should head in the future.

Read the full article at the Times of Israel.

Published originally on May 5, 2025.

Lazar Berman is the diplomatic correspondent at the Times of Israel, where he also covers Christian Affairs. He holds an M.A. in Security Studies from Georgetown University and taught at Salahuddin University in Iraqi Kurdistan. Berman is a reserve captain in the IDF’s Commando Brigade and served in a Bedouin unit during his active service.
See more from this Author
The Outcome of the Conflict in Iran Hangs on U.S. President Donald Trump’s Decision on How Much Longer He Wants to Keep Fighting
While More than a Quarter-Century Has Passed Since Israel Pulled Out of the Security Zone, It Is Fighting the Same Enemy and Risks Achieving the Same Result
The Future of the War in Iran Is Increasingly Focused on Less than 9 Square Miles of Coral Outcrop in the Persian Gulf
See more on this Topic
A Buffer Zone Is Not a Strategy; It Is a Geography
Direct U.S.-Brokered Talks Between Israeli and Lebanese Representatives Are Set to Take Place in Washington This Week
Iraq Is in the Hands of Bodies and Individuals Answerable to Tehran