What Future Does Israel Envision for Itself in the Middle East?

If the Netanyahu government continues to reject negotiations, the anticipated military victory of the Israeli army over Hamas will not enable Israel to better integrate into its regional environment," says Renaud Girard, a writer for the French newspaper Le Figaro.

The author believes that even if Lebanon's Hezbollah continues to refuse to open a real second front against Israel, peace in the Middle East is not imminent. However, in an interview with ABC News that aired on February 11, 2024, Netanyahu said that "victory is within reach" and that the Israeli military will destroy the last Hamas groups that have established themselves in the populous city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Girard asks: After the Israeli army could not find Yahya Sinwar in either Gaza City or Khan Yunis, can it now find him in Rafah, where more than a million displaced Palestinian civilians have taken refuge?

The author suggests that Israel's goal is not only the destruction of Hamas but the complete eradication of the Palestinian movement to prevent a recurrence of the October 7 attack, allowing the settlers to secure their interests.

He added: In the short term, the Israeli government at war must consider a trade-off: in exchange for the effective military cleansing of the Rafah region, what human catastrophe is it willing to commit in order to secure the release of how many Zionist prisoners?

The pressures on Israel's military government from both external and internal sources are significant. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and Germany have all cautioned against the catastrophic humanitarian impact of any potential invasion of Rafah. President Joe Biden publicly stated that Israel had exceeded what was initially deemed acceptable in their retaliatory measures.