The contours of the Gaza war have hardened into something resembling a political calculus as much as a military campaign. For Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the conflict has been both a national trauma and a personal test: decisions made in Jerusalem have reverberated across Israel in ways that directly affect his governing coalition, his right-wing partners, and his grip on power. The obvious question — whether it is to Netanyahu’s advantage to keep the war going — demands to be asked. When a leader’s political survival becomes entangled with the continuation of violence, both democracy and peace are put at risk.
Consider the political dynamics. Netanyahu presides over a coalition heavily dependent on ultranationalist and religious hardliners, figures who view any restraint as weakness and any talk of Palestinian sovereignty as betrayal. His domestic approval remains tied to projecting strength, not compromise. Ending the war would require confronting those within his own government who reject negotiations or even humanitarian concessions. Every escalation allows him to appear decisive and distracts from corruption charges still shadowing him in the courts. Each extension of the conflict delays a political reckoning.
But the costs are devastating. The human toll in Gaza has reached tens of thousands of civilian deaths, many of them children. The destruction is near-total in several areas. The October 7 attacks that killed 1,200 Israelis and took scores of hostages remain a national scar, but the disproportionate retaliation — the leveling of neighborhoods, the relentless bombardments, and the deliberate strangling of humanitarian access — has erased any distinction between defending a nation and punishing an entire people. The cycle of vengeance has become self-perpetuating.
If the goal is to destroy Hamas, then the strategy has already failed. You cannot bomb an ideology out of existence. To imagine that Hamas can be eliminated militarily is as futile as a game of whack-a-mole: every militant killed spawns two more, every family destroyed becomes a recruiting poster for the next generation. The deeper tragedy is that Israel has killed or alienated many of the very Palestinian figures it once negotiated with — moderates who might have formed the foundation of a future peace.
There is only one realistic path forward, and it is not military. The only sustainable outcome is a two-state solution — an independent, demilitarized Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel. The first necessary step is an immediate cessation of settlement activity in the West Bank. Settlements violate international law, inflame resentment, and make any future borders unworkable. Israeli settlers living on occupied Palestinian land must be required to return to Israel proper. No peace process can survive while one side continues to confiscate land and entrench occupation.
Equally essential is an immediate halt to bombing and ground operations in Gaza. The continuation of military action serves no strategic purpose beyond political optics. If Netanyahu refuses to order a cease-fire, then the United States must act. Military aid — billions of dollars annually — should be suspended until Israel complies with basic humanitarian norms and returns to the negotiating table. Friendship does not mean blind support. True allies hold each other accountable.
The idea that endless warfare will somehow yield stability is delusional. Israel has already made its point many times over, killing more than 60,000 Palestinians in response to 1,200 Israeli deaths. The world must now ask what justice looks like when vengeance outweighs reason. When is enough, enough? How much more blood must be spilled before both peoples recognize that their futures are intertwined?
Peace will not come from erasing an enemy; it will come from rebuilding a relationship. The alternative is perpetual conflict, a nation forever defined by the wars it refuses to end. If Netanyahu cannot see that, then the international community must make it clear for him: war is not leadership, and power built on ruin is not victory.