WhatsappPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an important warning to Hamas Sunday night: Israel will not allow Gaza to return to the reality that existed before October 7.
The immediate issue is the renewed threat of drones, balloons and kites being launched from Gaza toward Israeli communities.
Following a security assessment with Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and other senior officials, Netanyahu warned Hamas that continued launches would bring an intensified Israeli response. Israel could strike the people responsible for the launches and even evacuate populations from areas being used to launch the attacks.
But the significance goes far beyond drones.
For years before October 7, Israel gradually became accustomed to Hamas testing the border. Rockets, incendiary balloons, riots, sniper fire and other provocations were often treated as isolated incidents to be “managed.”
That concept collapsed on October 7.
The lesson Israel must never forget is that seemingly limited terrorist activity cannot simply be dismissed as harassment. Hamas uses every period of quiet to study Israel, rebuild capabilities, probe weaknesses and prepare for the next confrontation.
The emerging drone threat makes that lesson even more urgent.
Netanyahu pointed to Ukraine, Lebanon and Iran as examples of how unmanned aerial systems have transformed modern warfare. Small drones can be difficult to detect, relatively inexpensive to produce and devastating when armed or deployed in large numbers.
Israel therefore cannot afford to allow Hamas to rebuild a drone infrastructure inside Gaza.
The correct response is not merely to intercept drones after they are launched. Israel must establish deterrence by attacking the entire operational chain: the drones, their operators, their production facilities and the locations from which they are launched.
That is exactly the doctrine Netanyahu now appears to be articulating.
“My directive to the security establishment and the IDF is to do everything against this lethal tool,” Netanyahu said, specifically calling for Israel to strike the drones, their operators and their launch locations.
This is the strategic shift Israel needed after October 7.
Israeli communities along the Gaza border cannot once again become laboratories where Hamas experiments with new methods of warfare.
The message must be unmistakable: Israel will no longer wait for a threat to become intolerable before acting.
If Hamas attempts to rebuild the capabilities that led to October 7, Israel must destroy them before they can be used.
