The challenges facing Israel as it battles conflict on seven fronts
Israel has fought a shadow war against Iran and its proxies for decades, but the past year has seen hostilities erupt into open conflict on seven fronts.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, listed the battlegrounds as Iran, Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Shia militants in Iraq, militant groups in Syria as well as Palestinian fighters in the West Bank.
“In defending ourselves against this barbarism, Israel is defending civilisation against those who seek to impose a dark age of fanaticism on all of us,” he said in a statement over the weekend.
“Rest assured, Israel will fight until the battle is won – for our sake and for the sake of peace and security in the world.”
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But while this country has a hugely powerful military, equipped with the most modern weapons and technology, it is only finite in size and strength.
It is why Israeli commanders did not immediately start a major offensive against Hezbollah on 8 October last year when the paramilitary group began launching rockets into northern Israel.
That attack was in solidarity with Hamas after Israeli forces started their assault on Gaza in response to the 7 October atrocities.
At that time, Israel knew it would be difficult to prosecute two large-scale wars simultaneously, especially as Hezbollah is also far bigger, better trained and better armed than Hamas.
Instead, the Lebanon front was only fully opened last month when the focus of Israeli operations largely shifted from Gaza in the south up to the north.
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IDF: ‘Killed around 20,000 Hamas fighters’
Another limiting factor for Israel is the fact that it relies heavily on the United States to continue to supply weapons and ammunition for its military offensives and to step in to defend its skies on the two occasions so far when Iran has directly attacked.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF), drawing on its large pool of reserves, has fought tirelessly since 7 October but analysts say commanders and their political masters must be careful to avoid over-reaching and setting unrealistic goals.
It is notable that 12 months after the first strikes of this war by Israeli troops into Gaza, Hamas – while heavily degraded – still has the ability to launch rockets into Israel.
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Timeline of events since 7 October
It underlines the challenge Israel faces as it fights to stop Hezbollah strikes from Lebanon as well as missiles and drones launched from Yemen, Iraq and Syria, while at the same time preparing to launch another direct attack on Iran.
Then there is the issue of mounting pressure on Israeli political leaders – as well as their enemies – to agree to a ceasefire in the face of the scale of civilian deaths and the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza and now in Lebanon.
Israel’s reliance on airstrikes from a distance against Hamas and Hezbollah targets, which are often located in civilian areas, has caused significant civilian casualties despite Israeli commanders saying they take care to minimise collateral damage.
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The official death toll released by Palestinian health officials in Gaza is more than 41,500. The number does not distinguish between civilians and Hamas militants but the majority of the identified victims are women and children, according to the Reuters news agency.
The number of people killed in Lebanon, where Israel began a wider offensive three weeks ago, is also growing, with health officials saying more than 2,000 people have died, though again not distinguishing between Hezbollah fighters and civilians.
As well as the mounting death toll, many more civilians have been injured, while around three million people in Gaza and Lebanon combined have had to flee their homes.
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The civilian suffering means that the Israeli government – which should have sympathy and support following the 7 October massacre by Hamas – is instead facing growing criticism on the conduct of its war even from some of its closest allies.
Yet, Israel, like every country on the planet, has a right to self-defence and, in a region where many of its neighbours deny the nation’s very right to exist, the only action that has any effect is all too often hard, brutal, relentless military power.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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