Israeli military analyst Ron Ben-Yishai, a recipient of the Israel Prize in the field of culture and communication and a veteran commentator for Yediot Aharonot, published an op-ed asserting that Israel's war in the Gaza Strip, initiated in the wake of the October 7 massacre, is “just and, above all, necessary.”
He argues that “as long as Hamas and over a dozen other Islamist jihadist factions remain armed and active in Gaza, there can be no physical security for residents of Israel’s Negev region, and they cannot live normal lives.”
Ben-Yishai highlights Gaza’s transformation into “a self-production site for weapons and explosives, a massive arsenal—all constructed underground.” He stresses that the sacrifices of fallen soldiers were not in vain: “They died so that hostages could return, and, above all, so that southern residents could raise their children and earn a living.”
According to the veteran reporter, Hamas still retains approximately 70% of its military infrastructure. “Combat tunnels run beneath nearly every neighborhood in Gaza, filled with hundreds of rockets, RPGs, and explosives.”
Ben-Yishai warns: “If Hamas succeeds, even partially, in preserving its underground system at the end of the fighting, it will pose an unbearable threat to the State of Israel in general, and Negev residents in particular.”
He asserts that “the IDF must destroy Hamas’s and Islamic Jihad’s underground network in Gaza. Without this, in just a few years, these murderous organizations could reconstruct their production capabilities underground and tunnel new combat routes.”
Ben-Yishai concludes with a call to action: “As long as the Israeli government fails to secure, via diplomatic channels, the terms for returning all hostages, the IDF must continue to act forcefully to destroy most of the infrastructure beneath the Strip.”