By Elijah J. Magnier –
Benjamin Netanyahu today exudes the confidence of a man who believes he is reshaping the Middle East and breaking all borders inside and around Israel. After nearly two years of grinding conflict, Israel’s prime minister is preparing for what he hopes will be the decisive battle: the occupation of Gaza City. For this, the Israeli army has mobilised some 60,000 new recruits — an extraordinary number for a single front. The scale of this mobilisation betrays the enormity of the task, but also the likely scale of casualties. For Netanyahu, however, the political stakes outweigh the human cost. He calculates that a bloody victory in Gaza, the entire Strip and not just Gaza city, will cement his legacy, secure his far-right coalition, cause the death of the Israeli prisoners resulting in removing pressure on his expansionist plans and strengthen his hand to confront his next target: Lebanon.
In Netanyahu’s vision, Gaza is not an endpoint but a staging ground. Once Hamas infrastructure is contained and Gaza subdued under military ruling, he sees the opportunity to pivot northwards. The Israeli prime minister will next be seeking either the long-desired disarmament of Hezbollah or, failing that, the occupation of vast swathes of territory south of the Litani River after a round of violence. The objective would consist in twofold: to strip Hezbollah of its strategic depth north of the Litani River and to reshape the demographic reality of the frontier.
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