Israel security institute: ‘Israel needs to occupy Gaza to deter Hamas’

According to an Israeli security research institute, the repeated failure to deter Hamas makes it necessary for Israel to occupy the Gaza Strip and overthrow the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement.

According to Sama News Agency, in an article written by the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security’s Israeli security expert Omer Dostri, Israel has a right: “To adopt a gradual approach in dealing with the various threats facing it.”

In his paper, Dostri states that Israel: “Should deal with each threat separately, from the lightest to the heaviest, focusing as much as possible on the most serious threat it is facing, which is Iran’s nuclear programme.”

Dostri believes: “This approach requires moving first to the policy of deterring Hamas, with the aim of overthrowing its rule, as a step towards the next threat.” He argues:

The threat posed by the Gaza Strip is secondary in importance, compared to other threats such as the Lebanese and Iranian fronts, but Hamas's continued armament, and Israel's failure to deter it over the years, increases the threat over time, and it may develop into a threat of equal importance to the Lebanese front.

The Israeli researcher claims that in a multi-battle war: “Israel is expected to fight on three main fronts – Lebanon, the Golan Heights and Gaza, while airstrikes carried out by long-range missiles or explosive devices from Iraq and Yemen provide fertile ground for Iranian military bases, through the Iraqi militias and the Houthis in Yemen, and in such a situation, Hamas may be a force multiplier for Iran’s efforts to harm Israel.”

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After overthrowing Hamas, Dostri urges that: “Israel should turn to strengthening its deterrence against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and then focus exclusively on the threat of Iran’s military nuclear programme.” In order to reduce the threats against it, Dostri explains, Israel has first to eliminate Hamas: “Because in recent decades, it has become an important governmental force responsible for the Gaza Strip and its residents, making it vulnerable to deterrence due to its fear of losing its control.”

He argues that Hamas is still sticking to its “radical Islamic ideology” and that the movement disregards the price of military losses. Dostri maintains that Israel must: “Respond to Hamas with much more firepower against targets of much higher quality, and with a much greater amount of attacks, to the launch of any rocket from Gaza.”

Dostri insists that Israel must also: “Apply this policy to flying incendiary balloons and explosive gliders, or sending activists to carry out acts of violence near the fence.”

Dostri concludes that Israel has to move to a: “More deterrent strategy, by beginning to implement the strategy of ‘the battle between the wars’ in Gaza.”