[edanm]

> What is the goal here? How can we "win" in Gaza?

People make this a philosophical question. It's not. Israel's goal is to eliminate Hamas. Not the "idea", the actual people and military material of the fighting force of Hamas.

That is Israel's goal.

Also, it's looking increasingly likely that there will be something of a re-occupation of Gaza, at least for the immediate future until some alternative governing entity will be found.

Note: I'm stating the goal without getting into whether it's a good idea or not, or even achievable or not.

[dimask]

A goal without the specific means to achieve it is as abstract as a philosophical question.

[edanm]

That's true.

But worth saying that Israel's government thinks it can achieve the goal of destroying Hamas, and even if not, it is possible that when the war was launched, it did think it could be achieved (and e.g. underestimated Hamas).

Also, we use "achievable" here as if it's one dimensional, but it's not - the question is actually "achievable at what cost", where the cost is in Palestinian civilian lives lost and the population displaced, in IDF soldier's lives, and in disruption of the Israeli economy.