The Israel Defense Forces have been on the offensive in Gaza since March 18. This offensive faces the same challenges the IDF encountered throughout 2024. Israeli commanders appear reticent to enter some key urban areas in Gaza, including the Central Camps area of Gaza. This may be due, inter alia, to concerns that hostages are held in these urban areas. The result is Hamas remains in control of around half of Gaza as of mid-June.
The initial phase of the new operation beginning in March concentrated on securing a new corridor across southern Gaza – the Morag corridor – named after an Israeli settlement evacuated in 2005 as part of the general disengagement from Gaza. The IDF likes corridors, usually in open areas, to control areas between the cities in Gaza. This is an old habit from the 1990s and 2000s when the IDF preferred holding open areas or key road junctions rather than patrolling the cities of Gaza.
In March 2025, the IDF also returned to part of the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, also named for a former Israeli settlement. This area separates Gaza city from the Central Camps. It sits astride the key north-south road, Salah al-Din, and prevents Hamas from moving between north and south Gaza. April was spent conducting very limited operations and clearing and demolishing damaged structures in areas the IDF was operating.
On May 4, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved a new operation, code-named Gideon’s Chariots, which was supposed to unleash the IDF to take control of all of Gaza with up to five divisions.
Why hasn’t the IDF already moved over the past 18 months to occupy Gaza? First, the Biden administration throughout 2024 put pressure on Israel regarding operations in Gaza, including the US building an ill-conceived temporary pier to be attached to Gaza. Second, there are still 55 hostages and throughout 2024 endless ceasefire talks aimed at a hostage exchange. By the time US President Donald Trump came into office in January, the talks were finalized and a ceasefire took place from January 2025 to March. Third, until late 2024 a significant percentage of IDF forces were deployed to the north.
When Israel resumed fighting in March, most of the military brass who had been in charge on October 7, 2023 had resigned, including the Chief of Staff, the head of military intelligence, and the commanders of Southern Command and the Gaza Division. The Defense Minister and the head of the Shin Bet (Israel’s FBI) had been fired. The IDF troops entering Gaza in May were led by a different group of officers. Many of the division commanders were new as well, not because of resignations but because commanders normally rotate out of their positions every few years.
Gideon’s Chariots has not been marked by the rush to conquer Gaza that the name implies. The IDF says this time they intend not just to raid and depart but to stay
IDF units have moved forward slowly, taking control of areas near Khan Younis and northern Gaza, slowly expanding the envelope they control. In northern Gaza the IDF’s 162nd Division, with its 401st Armored Brigade and Givati Infantry Brigade, was sent to fight in Jabaliya. Meanwhile the Golani Brigade and the 36th Division have been operating in southern Gaza. In Khan Younis, the 98th Division returned to areas previously encountered from December 2023 to April 2024. The 252nd IDF Division has been fighting primarily in the Netzarim corridor. All of these units know the areas of Gaza they are fighting in from prior engagements.
The overall picture in Gaza is complex. The IDF is moving slowly forward, mostly replicating tactics from earlier in the war. The units move with air support and eliminate threats as far from the soldiers as possible. Improvised explosive devices killed three soldiers on June 3 and a civilian contractor on May 29.
As the IDF inches forward a new humanitarian initiative has begun in southern Gaza. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began delivering food to people on May 26. It has distributed more than seven million meals in eight days as of June 3, according to its interim director. The organization wanted to have four sites off the ground for delivering aid. These include three sites in southern Gaza and one in the Netzarim corridor. The goal is to rapidly expand the number of trucks moving aid to these sites from dozens to more than a hundred a day. The UN and other NGOs estimate Gaza needs more than 600 trucks of aid a day. Therefore the GHF initiative is a start to help feed half of Gaza or more. It began when Israel agreed to let aid back into Gaza, after having cut it off since March 1.
Now that the new aid sites are in place, there is an opportunity to move fast to exploit this new initiative. In addition, the military leader of Hamas in Gaza, Mohammed Sinwar, is dead from a mid-May airstrike. Among Gazans anger against Hamas is mounting, according to Arabic media reports. All this could also give a push to changing IDF tactics.
The challenge in coming months is to see if the IDF will change tactics and try to remove Hamas from the roughly 50 percent of Gaza it has held throughout the war. But so far such a change is not evident. For instance, after four IDF soldiers were killed in a building collapse in the first week of June, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir “ordered a tightening of operational procedures” and reinforced a key directive for all forces: “advance as slowly as necessary to ensure troop safety and prevent further casualties.”
Settling in for a war of attrition may not be in Israel’s interests. Hamas is weakened but there are diminishing returns. At some point Israel will be the one paying the higher cost for a long war. As the war approaches its second anniversary there will be more questions about what the new offensive is accomplishing. It was supposed to be different from the 2024 campaign by holding ground. But holding half of Gaza and slowly demolishing infrastructure there may not be the solution. Even if Hamas does collapse it will leave behind chaos that will require the IDF to continue to control much of Gaza for the near future.
Gideon’s Chariots have not been fully unleashed in Gaza. If they remain idling the war will continue to resemble much of what has come before.
