It is a fight for survival for Hamas. As long as a Hamas shooter can pull the trigger or launch a rocket into Israel, the organization will claim victory.

Despite its enormous military force, Israel’s task is more difficult.

Its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed “mighty vengeance” after Hamas invaded the border and killed about 1,200 Israeli citizens on October 7.

In the hours following the Israeli military’s return to the offensive, the government reaffirmed its war objectives in a WhatsApp post: “Releasing the hostages, eliminating Hamas, and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to the residents of Israel.”

Israeli soldiers stand near tanks as smoke rises from Gaza in the backdrop, near the Gaza border, on December 1, 2023, in Israel.
REUTERS IMAGE SOURCE
After the ceasefire expired on Friday, Israeli soldiers gathered near tanks as smoke rose from Gaza in the backdrop.
Mr Netanyahu, his political allies and opponents in Israel, and Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, who has made four trips to Israel and the region since the conflict began, are now preoccupied with how it does so and what happens next.

Perhaps Mr Blinken was aware that his attempt to extend the “humanitarian pause” would fail.

On the evening before the combat resumed, he reiterated America’s support for Israel’s right to self-defense and criticized Hamas once more.

Mr. Blinken reaffirmed his demand “that Israel act in accordance with international humanitarian law and the laws of war, even when confronting a terrorist group that respects neither” .

Then Mr. Blinken delivered his most forceful public speech yet on how Israel should conduct the war.

It is worth repeating since it is a checklist of what the United States expects from its closest ally.