Why Is Israel Fighting in the Same Gazan City for a Third Time?

At the beginning of the Gaza War, the IDF made a pincer movement into the northern part of the Strip, and by December reached the city of Jabaliya and engaged in an extended confrontation with Hamas units there. Israeli forces then moved south toward the Egyptian border, but returned to Jabaliya in May. In October, they returned to the city once again—this time after evacuating much of the civilian population—and have since been engaged in some of the fiercest of fighting of the war, killing or capturing hundreds of terrorists.

On the one hand, the pace of recent fighting suggests that Israel has successfully cornered a large concentration of jihadists and is defeating them. On the other, the fact that Hamas has managed to regroup and that IDF is fighting a third battle in Jabaliya—especially combined with the length of the war and the lack of progress in freeing the hostages—is demoralizing, and suggests Israeli military successes might be illusory. Enia Krivine and Aaron Goren explain the IDF’s strategic logic, and why this battle is different:

During the two previous campaigns in Jabaliya, one in December of 2023 and another in May of 2024, Hamas operatives could flood southward when the water got too hot—to hide in humanitarian zones, . . . take cover in cities without an IDF presence like Rafah, or make a run for the extensive Hamas tunnel network that crisscrossed underneath Gaza’s border with Egypt along a strip of territory known as the Philadelphi Corridor. . . . Sealing that porous border was a key strategic accomplishment for the IDF, essentially depriving Hamas of its ability to rearm and ensuring that the terror leaders could not escape the enclave.

Another critical geographic corridor that has become a strategic asset in the battle against Hamas is the Netzarim Corridor. Established in the first weeks of the ground invasion as a logistic axis and humanitarian route the corridor effectively bisects Gaza. In the early days of the war, terrorists could traverse the corridor without encountering the IDF. That is no longer the case.

In an ideal scenario, this means that the IDF can stop returning to the same battlefields. This new tactic of laying siege to problem areas, evacuating civilians, and forcing terrorists to surrender will likely be repeated in Gaza City. Now that the Strip is sectioned off by strategic corridors, the IDF has unprecedented operational maneuverability.

That also explains why Benjamin Netanyahu has been so adamant that Israel must not give up control of either the Netzarim or the Philadelphi corridor.

Read more at JNS

More about: Gaza War 2023, Hamas, IDF

What Iran Seeks to Get from Cease-Fire Negotiations

June 20 2025

Yesterday, the Iranian foreign minister flew to Geneva to meet with European diplomats. President Trump, meanwhile, indicated that cease-fire negotiations might soon begin with Iran, which would presumably involve Tehran agreeing to make concessions regarding its nuclear program, while Washington pressures Israel to halt its military activities. According to Israeli media, Iran already began putting out feelers to the U.S. earlier this week. Aviram Bellaishe considers the purpose of these overtures:

The regime’s request to return to negotiations stems from the principle of deception and delay that has guided it for decades. Iran wants to extricate itself from a situation of total destruction of its nuclear facilities. It understands that to save the nuclear program, it must stop at a point that would allow it to return to it in the shortest possible time. So long as the negotiation process leads to halting strikes on its military capabilities and preventing the destruction of the nuclear program, and enables the transfer of enriched uranium to a safe location, it can simultaneously create the two tracks in which it specializes—a false facade of negotiations alongside a hidden nuclear race.

Read more at Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs

More about: Iran, Israeli Security, U.S. Foreign policy