For weeks, Israel has pounded Gaza with missiles, as it gathers tanks and troops for a ground invasion with one stated goal: to destroy Hamas. It is a deceptively simple target, one that sounds urgent and necessary to many in a nation profoundly traumatised by the massacres of 7 October, hoping to reclaim their sense of security, and a military determined to restore its damaged authority.
“Now we have a lot of pressure from the Israeli population,” a senior Israeli security official said. “We are really trying in headquarters here not to be emotionally irrational in every decision. The only conclusion is
