WhatsappFor decades, Israel’s Gaza strategy was fundamentally defensive.
Build a fence. Deploy sensors. Construct barriers. Develop Iron Dome. Detect tunnels. And hope that Hamas could somehow be contained on the other side.
October 7 destroyed that illusion.
Three years later, the strategic reality along Israel’s southern frontier has been transformed.
Gaza Division Commander Brig. Gen. Liron Betito revealed that the IDF now controls approximately 63% of the Gaza Strip and has established nearly 40 new military outposts inside the territory.
The significance goes far beyond numbers.
Israel is implementing what Betito describes as “forward defense.”
Instead of Israeli communities sitting on the front line while soldiers defend them from behind a border fence, IDF forces are positioned forward, creating strategic depth between Hamas and Israeli civilians.
That represents one of the most important lessons of October 7.
Israel cannot outsource the security of its citizens to fences, international guarantees or assumptions about enemy intentions.
According to Betito, Israeli control over Gaza’s crossings has severely restricted Hamas’s ability to rebuild its former capabilities. IDF forces continue operating throughout Gaza to eliminate terrorists, seize weapons and deny Hamas freedom of action.
Perhaps even more significant is what is happening underground.
Betito says the IDF has destroyed almost all of Hamas’s underground infrastructure, while Israeli forces continue drilling throughout Gaza and using advanced technology to locate remaining tunnels.
The destruction of Hamas’s leadership has been equally extensive.
According to Betito, Israel has eliminated all of Hamas’s military-wing brigade commanders and most battalion commanders during the war. Even replacement commanders are now being eliminated, including recently targeted commanders of the Rafah and Khan Yunis brigades.
Hamas spent nearly two decades transforming Gaza into a terrorist fortress.
Israel is systematically dismantling that fortress.
But perhaps the most powerful statistic isn’t military.
Betito says 90% of the residents of the Gaza border communities who lived there on October 7 have returned, while some kibbutzim and moshavim are already expanding and welcoming new residents.
That is what strategic victory must ultimately accomplish.
Not simply killing terrorists.
Not simply destroying tunnels.
But creating a reality where Jewish families can return home knowing that the IDF stands between them and the enemy — rather than waiting behind a fence for the enemy to attack again.
October 7 demonstrated the catastrophic consequences of containment.
The emerging Gaza doctrine appears fundamentally different:
Israeli communities behind us. Israeli soldiers forward. And the enemy pushed away from our homes.
