Why is Netanyahu prolonging the war? (What Al Jazeera won’t tell you)

Tags : Gaza, Israël, Netanyahu, Palestine, Hamas, Al Jazeera,

Away from fantasy, heroic speeches, and the mythologizing of Gaza as if it were the Soviet Union, the core question remains:

Why is Netanyahu so determined to prolong the war?

And why does he sabotage any deal — even partial or humanitarian ones?

The answer lies in deep strategic objectives that go beyond hostages or eliminating Hamas. Netanyahu is not seeking a “conventional military victory,” but is conducting a prolonged war with the goal of altering Gaza’s geography, demography, and psychology.

1. Re-engineering geography and demography:

The primary goal of this war is not just to topple the Gaza administration, but to reshape the entire territory:

• Bulldozing border areas and establishing wide buffer zones.
• Total destruction of infrastructure and homes.
• Attacking living conditions to create an environment that pushes people to leave.

This policy doesn’t aim just to apply pressure — but to gradually depopulate Gaza, or at least confine people into besieged population islands stripped of the basics for life.

2. Changing reality through slow progress: “Strategic creep”

Netanyahu is waging this war as if redrawing the map inch by inch — through gradual advances, establishing temporary military points, then making them permanent facts on the ground.

This explains:

• The long-term presence in areas like Netzarim and Rafah.
• The field siege of life centers without direct occupation.
• Massive destruction with no alternatives built, to trap civilians in endless displacement.

3. The balance of power favors Israel… but the goal isn’t resolution:

Despite Israel’s military superiority and fire control over much of Gaza, Netanyahu avoids both resolution and agreement. Why?
Because any settlement would halt the slow advance toward his structural goals.

Israel is investing in time, recognizing that open-ended war yields what short battles can’t:

• Soft displacement.
• Social exhaustion.
• Gradual collapse of all resistance or civil structures.

4. Conditioning Palestinian consciousness: This war is psychological warfare

One of the most dangerous aspects of this war is that it targets the collective Palestinian psyche, not just their bodies.

Netanyahu knows that destruction alone isn’t enough. He seeks to:

• Instill feelings of helplessness and surrender.
• Normalize hunger, fear, and exile as a permanent state.
• Fragment national identity and turn it into a burden.

Every airstrike, every evacuation warning, every bread line, every night in tents —
is not just material warfare, but a brutal lesson in psychological reprogramming:

« Being Palestinian means living in pain — are you still willing to cling to that fate? »

In conclusion:

Netanyahu isn’t stalling because he’s unable to win — he’s doing it because he’s achieving far deeper goals than just “winning the war.”
He is managing a full-fledged project to:

• Empty Gaza
• Redesign it
• Defeat its people’s consciousness

And he knows that time, destruction, and displacement are his most effective tools.

This is why the war continues — not because it’s undecided, but because it’s being decided… on Netanyahu’s terms.

The question now is:
What will we, as Palestinians, do?
And what will Hamas do?

By: Sameh Al-Omssi, Palestine

#Palestine #Gaza #Hamas #Israel #Netanyahu