Some Difficult Months Ahead for Israel

Regardless of whether you think it’s fair (I don’t) and justified (it’s not), Israel’s reputation in the West has taken a beating over the last several weeks. In Israel, the transition from the triumphalism that followed the staggering successes accompanying Operation Rising Lion to apprehensive uncertainty as the long war in Gaza plods along amid deteriorating global patience for it must be disorienting. But even as Israel’s Sunni neighbors join calls for Hamas to lay down its arms and abandon the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Western partners are pressuring Jerusalem into accepting the distasteful prospect that Hamas will survive the war it started on October 7, 2023.

Israel’s security cabinet rejects that premise. This week, the body approved a plan that would see Israel briefly take de facto control of much of the Gaza Strip, beginning with densely populated Gaza City. Benjamin Netanyahu, like most Israelis, does not want to return to the status quo ante 2005, prior to the bitter withdrawal of all Israelis, including the dead and buried, from Gaza. He’s promised to transfer the territory to “Arab forces that will govern it properly.” Eventually, at least. For now, the plan will compel all Gaza City residents to evacuate before October 7 of this year, when they will be redirected toward the Mawasi humanitarian zone in Gaza’s south.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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Regardless of whether you think it’s fair (I don’t) and justified (it’s not), Israel’s reputation in the West has taken a beating over the last several weeks. In Israel, the transition from the triumphalism that followed the staggering successes accompanying Operation Rising Lion to apprehensive uncertainty as the long war in Gaza plods along amid deteriorating global patience for it must be disorienting. But even as Israel’s Sunni neighbors join calls for Hamas to lay down its arms and abandon the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Western partners are pressuring Jerusalem into accepting the distasteful prospect that Hamas will survive the war it started on October 7, 2023.

Israel’s security cabinet rejects that premise. This week, the body approved a plan that would see Israel briefly take de facto control of much of the Gaza Strip, beginning with densely populated Gaza City. Benjamin Netanyahu, like most Israelis, does not want to return to the status quo ante 2005, prior to the bitter withdrawal of all Israelis, including the dead and buried, from Gaza. He’s promised to transfer the territory to “Arab forces that will govern it properly.” Eventually, at least. For now, the plan will compel all Gaza City residents to evacuate before October 7 of this year, when they will be redirected toward the Mawasi humanitarian zone in Gaza’s south.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.