Israeli army becoming impatient with Netanyahu's vague Gaza war goals

There is a growing sense of frustration prevailing among the leadership of the Israeli army towards Benjamin Netanyahu, due to the Israeli prime minister's failure to define the objectives of the war Israel is waging on the Gaza Strip, an analysis in Haaretz said on Friday.

The article claims that Herzi Halevi, the Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, demanded Netanyahu’s emergency cabinet clearly define the objectives of the war on Gaza before the ground invasion. However, Halevi did not receive a response at the time.

With the Israeli army just over a month into the ground invasion, Halevi is still waiting for the objectives of the war to be clearly defined, according to the article, which added that Israeli forces are operating in Gaza without concrete aims and goals.

The article, written by the newspaper’s military and defence analyst Amos Harel, suggests that the lack of war aims is due to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu only caring about trying to secure his political future and preparing for the upcoming elections.

Netanyahu, as the leader of Israel’s far-right government, is currently facing strong opposition and plummeting public support. The prime minister is also the subject of an ongoing graft trial.

Harel claims that what has been notable throughout Israel's war on Gaza - even before it started - is a fear from Netanyahu and other leaders of making decisions..

"Often it seems the prime minister prefers to have the army decide for him, so he can blame the General Staff for the failures," Harel writes. 

The analyst accuses Netanyahu of a mixture of "weakness and populism in which [Netnayhu] favorus a wait-and-see approach. Far more time is being spent on a political campaign with an eye on the next election, including photo ops with officers and soldiers."

Commenting on Haaretz's report about the government's failure to define clear objectives for the war on Gaza, Israeli writer Dan Adin wrote on X that “the army continues to advance and pays a heavy price without the government defining a military or clear political goal for it.”

This news comes as another report claims that the Israeli army has incurred over 5,000 injures, on average 60-per-day, 2000 of which have been designated disabled.

Despite the lack of tangible goals, Israel's war on Gaza has caused massive death and destruction,  with 1.9 million Palestinians displaced and well over 17,000 killed.