The War in Gaza and the Israeli Intention to Restore its Deterrent Capability

Abstract

The article analyzes the war carried out by Israel against the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza between December 2008 and January 2009, in order to see whether this initiative has succeeded, or not, in gratifying the Israeli interest in restoring its deterrent capability. After introducing some of the most important frameworks of engagement, the work mainly focuses on the military factors of the conflict, for instance, the firing of Qassam rockets by Hamas into Israel, the main objectives and stages of operation Cast Lead and its intensive caliber, and also the limited response capacity shown by Hamas. The last part of the article deals with the behavior of several regional and international policies regarding the war.