Description: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the decision by Israel’s Security Cabinet to launch an operation called Gideon’s Chariots which would effectively see Israel’s defense forces occupy the Gaza Strip indefinitely. The decision was brought forward initially by Israel’s army and approved by the Security Cabinet as the country continues to resort towards resolving the war with Hamas militarily. Hundreds of reservists were called upon prior to announcing the operation which pointed towards the credibility of the information. The announcement comes after days of reciprocal bombardments between Israel’s aerial forces and Yemen’s Houthis, a campaign also supported by the US naval and aerial forces stationed in the Red Sea. Indirect negotiations for reaching a peaceful resolution to the war mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US have resulted in no concrete strategy, which further prompted Israel to continue their devastating war campaigns intensifying the humanitarian and security crisis in the enclave. Hamas has denounced any attempts for peace going forward, stating they won’t allow Israel to indefinitely occupy Gaza and weaponize humanitarian aid to achieve its expansionistic goals.
Impact: With the faltering of the peace initiative, the war between Israel and Hamas continues to intensify as Israel forwards their military campaign. The announcement of Gaza’s indefinite occupation would further aggravate the situation with the Houthis emerging as the most competent regional actor capable of conditioning Israel’s military ambitions. Prime Minister Netanyahu is also facing a domestic political crisis which could transpire from oppositional concerns regarding the war and allegations towards him in several corruption cases, towards potential early elections. The international community has proven to have limited influence over the development on the ground as they have failed to pressure both Israel and Hamas to adopt moderate approaches in their demands and conform their goals within a peace agreement framework. With the peace process effectively depleted, the war would continue causing larger dimensions of humanitarian and security crises in the already severe conditions on the ground.