Israel prepares for a long war in Gaza

As 2023 draws to a close, Israel’s forces in the Gaza Strip are deployed across the territory to their farthest extent. An armoured division of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) is operating in the quarter of Gaza city where Israeli intelligence believes the last intact battalion of Hamas’s armed force is holding out. Farther south, seven brigade combat teams have converged on Khan Younis, Gaza’s second city, where Hamas’s leadership and most of nearly 130 Israeli hostages are assumed to be. Other brigades are attacking Hamas strongholds in towns across central and southern Gaza. Israeli commanders acknowledge behind the scenes that these may be the last wide-scale offensives of the war.