No end in sight Israel's conflict with Hamas and Hezbollah grinds on

In 2019, Aviv Kochavi, then the chief of staff of Israel Defense Forces (IDF), delivered a bullish speech. The IDF, he proclaimed, is "all about victory".

- Peter Beaumont

Assessing that the primary threats to Israel's security were from nonstate actors such as Hamas and Hezbollah, Kochavi would the following year usher in a new operational doctrine titled "decisive victory". It envisaged "swift, offensive operations relying on the use of smaller units supported by massive firepower".

Nine months into the Gaza conflict that followed Hamas's surprise attack in southern Israel on 7 October, the state is fighting on two fronts simultaneously. But the promise of a "swift" or "decisive victory" has proved illusory.

And in the midst of USled international pressure for meaningful ceasefire talks and a hostage-for-prisoners deal, backed by the passage of a UN security council resolution, the dynamics of the ever-lengthening war have imposed their own reality.

The reported existence of letters sent by Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, describing civilian Palestinian casualties as "a necessary sacrifice", suggest that the group sees the progress of the conflict in a fundamentally different light to Israeli officials.