Israel’s war in Gaza has been dragging on for nearly two years, with mounting costs and diminishing returns. Failing to set a shorter, more decisive campaign as a core aim turned out to be a serious strategic error.
From the outset, it should have been clear that a prolonged campaign would erode Israel’s global image, invite mounting criticism, and strain both military and financial resources.
A prudent strategy would have sought to maximize military gains quickly, set a fixed time frame, and design exit strategies for multiple scenarios, from severe Hamas degradation to full territorial control.
Each plan would have balanced operational objectives with clear timetables and cost-benefit considerations, ensuring that battlefield achievements were secured before diplomatic and economic costs began to soar.
Instead, the war became a rolling sequence of operations, dictated more by events than by a clear strategic path or disciplined timeline.
Nearly two years on, Israel is paying higher prices for increasingly marginal returns. While Hamas has suffered heavy losses, Israel has not achieved the “total victory” promised by Prime Minister Netanyahu.
The war’s momentum shifted long ago, yet Israel has pressed on with slow, indecisive moves, as if time were a neutral factor. It is not, and the consequences are now plain.
By failing to treat speed as a strategic imperative in Gaza, Israel allowed the war to devolve into an open-ended grind, where costs now outweigh gains.
At this stage, Israel should seek to execute a swift exit strategy, even if imperfect, to halt the erosion of national assets and legitimacy, allow the army to rest and rebuild, and refocus on revitalizing the economy ahead of future conflicts.
