Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a man with a significant amount of pressure on his shoulders. The 3 1/2-month-long war against Hamas in Gaza has long since turned into an albatross around his neck, one that has caused his approval ratings to drop precipitously and created adversity wherever he looks.
The way the Israeli military has chosen to prosecute the military campaign against Hamas is by far the biggest source of angst for the international community. The Gaza Strip, a coastal territory the United Nations predicted would be “unlivable” years before the Israel-Hamas war erupted, is now essentially a wasteland. More than 25,000 Palestinians have been killed, tens of thousands have been wounded and entire cities, such as Gaza City, the territory’s largest metropolitan area, have been leveled. More than 85% of Palestinians in Gaza are internally displaced, and acute food insecurity is the norm.
All of this is causing anger not only in the Arab world but also in the so-called Global South; South Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice for genocide. President Joe Biden is also facing pushback from his fellow Democrats who believe the White House isn’t being as forceful with Netanyahu as it should be.
Netanyahu is also the target of intense anger inside Israel itself. Leading the charge are the families of the hostages who remain in Hamas custody. More than 130 of them, civilians and soldiers alike, are in Gaza today, some of them parked in Hamas’ extensive tunnel network. This makes it immensely difficult for the Israeli military to mount successful rescue operations—to date, only one hostage has been rescued. The families in Israel are concerned that the longer the war drags on, the more likely their loved ones will die. It’s not an unreasonable fear—some have reportedly been killed in Israeli airstrikes, while three more were accidentally killed by Israeli troops. Fair or not, many in Israel believe Netanyahu isn’t doing all he can to free the remaining hostages. Others suspect the hostages are a second-tier priority for his government, below winning the war.
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