Hamas’s Goal in Gaza: The Strategy That Led to the War—and What It Means for the Future

How a strategy to reunify the Palestinian struggle led to a devasting war.

the West Bank was a far more obvious arena of conflict. With its expanding Israeli settlements and frequent incursions by Israeli soldiers and settlers into Palestinian villages, the West Bank—along with the holy sites in Jerusalem—attracted continual international media attention. For Hamasand other militant groups, here was the more appropriate staging ground for nationalist Palestinian armed resistance. Indeed, Israel seemed to recognize this: on the eve of October 7, the Israeli forces were busy monitoring Palestinians in the West Bank, on the assumption that Gaza posed little threat other than occasional rocket fire.
— Read on www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/hamass-goal-gaza