Netanyahu launches a full ground assault in Gaza City. While families of hostages and civilians plead for mercy, the war machine grinds on—revealing not strategy, but irreversibility.
In a Nutshell
As of 16 September 2025, Israeli forces have launched a major ground offensive into Gaza City, deploying tanks, armoured vehicles, and intense air-and-ground bombardments. The stated goal: dismantle Hamas’s control and rescue the hostages. But as casualty figures rise—health sources in Gaza report dozens killed, hundreds injured—hostage families accuse Netanyahu of putting military victory ahead of lives. International condemnation grows, the humanitarian crisis deepens, and peace seems more remote than ever.
The Main Course
What’s Changed on the Ground
After weeks of aerial strikes and warnings, the IDF has begun a major ground incursion into Gaza City. The attacks target what Israel claims are remaining Hamas strongholds, tunnel networks, weapons depots, and command posts. According to military sources, about 2,000–3,000 Hamas fighters remain in Gaza City, entrenched underground.
Civilians are the first to suffer. Schools, mosques, hospitals have been damaged or destroyed as urban warfare intensifies. Thousands flee northern city areas many without safe paths to evacuate. The health ministry reports hospitals overwhelmed, with many wounded unable to reach care. Each day, the death toll creeps upward.
Netanyahu’s Decision and the Domestic Picture
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down. Defence Minister Israel Katz declared, “Gaza is burning,” framing this escalation as both necessity and inevitability.
Netanyahu’s government argues that Hamas has used peace negotiations as cover—refusing ultimata for full hostage release and refusing credible ceasefire terms. Pressure from hardliners in his security cabinet has intensified, arguing that failure to act decisively now risks both strategic collapse and political marginalisation.
Inside Israel, however, tension is high. Families of hostages many still unreturned after the 2023 abduction have been vocally critical, accusing the government of risking the lives of the remaining captives with such a broad offensive. Some Israeli military officials reportedly urge caution, warning that once gates are opened for a ground invasion, civilian casualties and international backlash will spiral.
The Humanitarian Crisis and Displacement
With ground fighting underway, more than 140,000 civilians are reported to be fleeing Gaza City. Shelters are overcrowded; food, medicine, clean water scarce. Famine warnings have been issued. The displacement crisis is dire.
Evacuation orders have been given for some areas, but many residents refuse to leave. Some cite the lack of safe southern zones, others are trapped by destroyed roads, blocked routes, or fear of violence en route. Aid convoys struggle to enter, and where they do, reports of aid theft, looting, and failure to distribute persist. Hospitals are running out of supplies. No guarantee exists that civilians who flee will find safety.
Why Now? Strategic Logic or Political Survival?
The decision to escalate seems driven by multiple overlapping pressures:
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Hostage urgency. With pressure mounting both domestically from hostage families and internationally—Netanyahu appears to believe only a ground offensive can force Hamas’s hand.
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Negotiation breakdown. Ceasefire proposals have required the full return of hostages; Hamas’s publicly observed posture suggests rejection or stalling terms Netanyahu sees as untenable.
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Electoral and coalition politics. Netanyahu’s government has leaned right, and hardliner voices demand clarity. Delaying action might risk internal fracturing.
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International alignment and pressure. While Europe threatens sanctions, the US remains supportive (publicly affirming Israel’s right to defend itself). The offensive may also pre-empt criticism by showing “resolve.”
But the question remains: does Israel actually expect Hamas to comply? Releasing all hostages means surrender. And Hamas has shown over months that its leadership, many of whom are hiding, have neither the capacity nor the will to deliver on such terms.
The Media Says
Mainstream coverage emphasizes civilian suffering and global criticism. What is less examined: the actual strategic calculus, the breakdown in Hamas’s capacity to respond, and Israel’s measures taken to warn civilians or open evacuation routes. Families of hostages are often mentioned only in passing.
The Guardian: “Israel launches ground offensive deep inside Gaza City, defying international condemnation and UN accusations of genocide.” The Guardian
Reuters: “Israel says ‘Gaza is burning’ as it launches huge ground assault.” Reuters+1
AP News: “Israeli military begins its ground offensive in Gaza City as thousands of Palestinians flee.” AP News
The Merlow View
History, Comparisons, and the Stakes
Urban warfare never spares civilians. From Aleppo to Mosul, from Grozny to Fallujah, the struggle between precision and protection is ancient. The question is whether intention and execution meet moral law.
Israel is not innocent in this conflict. Hamas has embedded itself in civilian areas; launched rockets from schools; stored arms in tunnels under hospitals. These are war crimes. But they do not erase Israel’s obligations under international law to protect civilians, to provide safe corridors, to minimise suffering.
When the UN accuses Israel of genocide, it must also scrutinise the evidence, the context, the alternatives. Netanyahu’s government claims it warned civilians; cancelled some pauses; had evacuation orders. If so, why are so many trapped? Why is aid still blocked or stolen? Why is international law unevenly applied?
The Fantasy vs Reality
The fantasy is that war can be surgical, that hostages can be rescued without heavy collateral damage. That profound moral clarity can survive in the headlines while buses go past bombed hospitals.
The reality: war is messy; mistakes happen; civilians are killed. But actions matter: intent, transparency, accountability, and whether alternatives were exhausted. If all you do is bomb and occupy without credible plans for evacuation, care, and civilian protection, the moral cost is huge.
Israel’s commitment isn’t just military; it is ideological: the belief that only overwhelming force can dismantle Hamas. That logic may win battles but risks losing the world’s empathy, the support of moderates, and possibly the future of regional peace.
In Short…
This moment demands more than condemnation. It demands clarity on all sides.
For the international community: stop treating suffering as headlines. Treat it as accountability.
Peace will not come through restraint alone, but neither will legitimacy come through unchecked force. The world must see both power and compassion. Israel must defeat Hamas—but the price, in lives, in homes, in innocence, must be counted. For if it is not, the history books will record not just who won, but who betrayed the meaning of war.
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