The Hebrew-language daily Maariv admitted that after months of destruction and bloodshed, the regime’s only “achievements” are the deaths of captives and accelerating international isolation.
The paper questioned the very logic of the invasion, noting: “The real question every Israeli faces today is not whether we can occupy Gaza City, but why we should attack this region at all.”
Even US president Donald Trump, it said, has warned that time is running out, while Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu still insists on “decisive victory.”
This claim, the paper stressed, comes as the Israeli military remains bogged down in Gaza, European pressure intensifies, and the political costs rise by the minute.
Columnist Anna Barsky wrote that Israel is no longer balancing between military triumph and media spin, but trapped between two dissonant tunes: a drawn-out war and a lost political opportunity.
She admitted that political, economic and legal consequences have already erased any battlefield gains.
“Each day without a political agreement becomes another turning point in global opinion against us, another shift in European policy, another layer of isolation,” the paper conceded.
Netanyahu and his loyalists, the article said, cling desperately to the so-called “Gideon 2” operation, hoping a brutal strike on Gaza City will collapse Hamas.
But many analysts believe the outcome will be the reverse, with political and humanitarian damage far outweighing any military advantage.
Israel may currently control the Philadelphi Corridor and surrounding areas, Maariv wrote, but history from Lebanon proves that trying to neutralize threats preemptively is impossible.
The piece argued that launching an assault on Gaza is unnecessary and counterproductive.
The writer further acknowledged that Israel’s gravest threat is no longer rockets from Gaza but the collapse of global support: “This is no longer merely a humanitarian issue. It has become a triple front — humanitarian, ending the war, and recognizing a Palestinian state.”
Maariv openly questioned whether occupying Gaza City could ever dismantle Hamas, concluding that at best it might shake the movement, but “will never eliminate it.”
The commentary closed with a bleak admission: Israel must stop deceiving its settlers, because “it is impossible to achieve both goals — freeing captives and eradicating Hamas — at the same time.”