Israeli tanks and troops that entered Gaza on Friday are now focusing on encircling Gaza City – the population hub of the northern part of the strip. This comes after Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Saturday that Israel had entered a “long and difficult” new stage of the war. He stopped short of calling this new phase an all-out invasion, but airstrikes have escalated along with an advancing ground incursion.This strategy could have further implications for the region, and Israel’s allies in the West – including Canada – will be looking to figure out their parts in this ongoing war.Thomas Juneau is on the show to help us understand this next phase of the war and what it could mean geopolitically. He’s an associate professor at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs whose research focuses on the Middle East as well as Canadian foreign and defence policy.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com