Israel Wants to Free Gaza of Gazans

Netanyahu’s goal isn’t just to remove Hamas, but the Palestinians, too

“Genocide” is a useful but inaccurate description of IDF strategy in Gaza, and one that runs the risk of making the term meaningless. Say what you will about the excessive use of force, and the callous disregard for Palestinian life, and you’d be right — but these actions, no matter how severe, are in a different category from systematically destroying a people.

A more accurate description is “domicide,” defined as the systematic destruction of a people’s home. Three months into the war, and the IDF has killed roughly 1% of Gaza’s population, while destroying over 70% of its infrastructure. Military experts compare the extent of the devastation to the American carpet bombing of German and Japanese cities in WWII.

Such expansive destruction suggests an implicit Israeli goal of the war that is beyond the destruction of Hamas: the destruction of Gaza itself, which would precipitate a mass exodus of Palestinians from their increasingly uninhabitable land. The loud part of that once-radical assertion has already been said out loud by “extreme” members of Israel’s own cabinet.

The rationale for such drastic steps feeds seamlessly into the Netanyahu narrative of Palestinian containment, with the added new twist of Palestinian expulsion. Up to now, the Right Wing regime has been comfortable with the status quo of fragmented Palestinian leadership, and the periodic quelling of terrorist attacks with 1,000x IDF retaliation.

Thanks to the expansiveness and barbarity of the October 7th attacks and the ongoing multifront war against Hamas, the IDF’s disproportionate retaliatory strategy now makes the nearly complete destruction of Gaza infrastructure feasibly within range of necessitating such a mass exodus. With 85% of the population already displaced, where could they go?

“Egypt” is one answer Netanyahu’s government is hoping for, despite Cairo’s refusal to take in a single Gazan so far. Undaunted, the pressure to expel Palestinians persists, as does the military strategy designed to encourage it. Hamas indeed started this phase of the conflict, but the war has been ongoing since 1948, thanks to both sides insisting on 100% of the land.

Arguably the only viable path toward lasting peace, however unrealistic at this point, is a two-state solution contingent on Israel giving all of the West Bank to the Palestinians, and the Palestinians dismantling and replacing their own leadership. Short of that, both tribes revert to ongoing and cascading cycles of violence, exemplified by the current abject disaster.

Let’s be clear: Netanyahu’s Israeli faction never wanted a two-state solution, as evinced by bolstering Hamas while continuing to build illegal West Bank settlements. They have also been vocally threatening to pre-emptively destroy Iran’s rapidly burgeoning nuclear capabilities, while knowing Israel could never do it without the active participation of their American ally.

Today’s catastrophe therefore plays perfectly into the larger goals of Israel’s conservatives, denying both Palestinian Statehood and an Iranian nuclear arsenal. Destroying most of Gaza could force the Palestinians out and further diminish their political capital, while continued escalation with Hezbollah could precipitate all-out war with Iran, forcing US involvement.

The Israeli Right therefore considers the Gaza War as a bridge to their ultimate goal of a long lasting “peace” where the Palestinians are totally irrelevant, and Iran is neutered. Such dual delusion is not only the real existential threat to Israel, but motivates a ruthless and self-destructive Gaza strategy that does nothing but spawn the next incarnation of Hamas.