An IDF officer was seriously wounded this morning in a clash with Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. Once again, gunfire. Once again, close combat. And once again, reports framed in language that borders on calming: “serious violations.”
Months ago, the prime minister presented the principles for ending the war. A formal document, neatly itemized, with unequivocal promises: dismantling Hamas, returning all the hostages, living and dead, demilitarizing the Strip, maintaining Israeli security control and preventing any process that would lead to the rehabilitation of terrorism.
It must be said honestly: the return of fallen hostages is a painful and difficult achievement, and it deserves credit. Without cynicism. But that is roughly where it ends.
In recent weeks, we have seen a steady series of encounters with Hamas terrorists. Not “isolated incidents.” Not “residual terror.” This is consistent activity by an organization that has resumed operations. Hamas was not eliminated, not dismantled and not erased. It is reorganizing, testing the ground and testing us. Every such clash is a painful reminder that the war’s goals have not been implemented in practice.
And within this reality, the Rafah crossing has opened. Not as an exception, but almost as routine. Two-way movement of people and goods, bringing into the Strip concrete, weapons and terrorists. This comes after an explicit promise by the prime minister that the Rafah crossing would not open.
Even today, after a serious encounter in which an officer was badly wounded, the crossing continues to operate. And that is without even mentioning the aid trucks that keep flowing in. At times, it seems Gaza is being rehabilitated faster than Kiryat Shmona.
It does not end there. Yesterday, the logo of the new “peace committee” was also revealed, a body made up of technocrats from Qatar and Turkey. One glance at the logo is enough. It looks like the Palestinian Authority. It echoes the Palestinian Authority. It behaves like the Palestinian Authority.
How did Netanyahu once put it? If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck and behaves like a duck, it is probably the Palestinian Authority.
There is also a quieter price to this situation, one that does not appear in security briefings. A price of erosion. Of lost trust. Of a public sense that reality is being managed through slogans rather than decisions.
Ruth ElbazPhoto: Stav BarkaiWhen the public is told Hamas has been defeated, but soldiers keep getting wounded. When promises are made that Rafah will not open, and it does. When “principles for ending the war” are presented, but the reality on the ground tells a different story, something deep cracks. Not only deterrence toward the enemy, but trust between the state and its citizens.
And while all this is unfolding in the south, the public discourse is diverted eastward. Will Iran strike or not? Should women serve in combat units or not? Important debates, especially at this time. Debates that allow the real thing to happen quietly: the rehabilitation of Hamas right under our noses.
At this pace, if Hamas continues to rebuild and grow stronger, the IDF will need everyone. Men and women. Not out of ideology, but out of simple security reality.
We can keep calling it “serious violations.” Or we can call it by its real name: an ongoing failure to implement the war’s goals.