Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) meets with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (C) and military chiefs at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv for a security assessment on October 8, 2023 (GPO)
The Israeli security cabinet voted late on October 7 to put the country officially at war and it can carry out “significant military activities,” the Prime Minister’s Office announced.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already said that “Israel was at war” after Palestinian armed factions in the Gaza Strip led by the Hamas Movement started a surprise large-scale attack, launching thousands of rockets and storming nearby military positions and settlements.
The high-level security cabinet decision gives the declaration legal standing in keeping with Basic Law: The Government, which in its Clause 40 says that the country cannot go to war without a government decision.
This was the first time Clause 40 was invoked by the Israeli government since the 1973 Yom Kippur War with Egypt and Syria.
The announcement came after Israeli officials said that the death toll from the Palestinian attack has exceeded 600. The Israeli Health Ministry also confirms that the number of wounded in hospitals has reached 2,048, including 20 in critical condition and 330 seriously wounded.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is still struggling to regain control over the military position and settlements which were captured in the early hours of the attack.
Hebrew media reported on October 8 heavy clashes at Kfar Aza, Magen and several other settlements near Gaza and said that the IDF deployed tanks to push back fighters holding out there. Hamas’s military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, confirmed that its fighters were still carrying out attacks in Sofa, Holit, Yetid, Ofakim, Sderot, Yad Mordechai, Kfar Azza, Be’eri, Yeted and Kissufim.
Gaza factions also launched hundreds of rockets at Sderot and other nearby settlements, causing casualties and material losses. A number of suicide drones were also used in attacks against Israeli targets.
Meanwhile, the IDF stepped up strikes on Gaza, targeting several high-rise buildings, the home of the head of Hamas’s intelligence and several command centers of the group and its close ally, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The Israeli Navy also targeted two groups of Palestinian fighters on Zikim beach.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said that 370 Palestinians have been killed and another 2,200 have been wounded since the start of the battle. Most of those were apparently killed in the strip as a result of Israel’s retaliatory strikes. From its side, the IDF said it killed at least 400 “Palestinian terrorists” in Israel and in strikes in Gaza.
With Israel’s declaration of war, the battle will likely go on for weeks, if not months. The IDF may even attempt to invade Gaza after clearing its border.
Hamas would not have decided on this attack without some encouragement. However, Russia and Iran are not likely behind this. Neither Iran nor Russia is interested in a big war in the region.
First of all, this war could worsen the situation in Syria. Secondly, it could disrupt the supply of Iranian weapons to Russia. Thirdly, a Russian involvement could mark the start of deliveries of Israeli military equipment and technology to Ukraine. Thus, it is safe to assume, Iran and Russia were satisfied with the status quo in the Middle east.
There is however another group of interested parties, the United State and Saudi Arabia. A very complex electoral cycle is gaining momentum in the U.S. The war in the key overseas region is an excellent information occasion for the U.S. to distract the electorate from domestic problems and to disrupt the negative news flow from Ukraine.
The U.S. political establishment is also showing disagreement over further financing of the war in Ukraine at the level of 2023. This means that the profits of the U.S. powerful military-industrial complex may be at risk. As is well known, the majority of this complex is controlled by Republicans. At the same time, the Republicans have always used the topic of the Arab-Israeli confrontation to gain or maintain control over certain financial flows.
If the conflict in Gaza continues for a long time, the Republicans will simply reallocate the same or even more funding that they had for Ukraine toward Israel. Besides, the need to support Israel is much easier to explain to voters than the need to continue supporting the Kiev regime, which is constantly discrediting itself. In addition, it is important to remember Hamas is not a pro-Iranian organization. Rather, it is more oriented towards the Muslim Brotherhood and pan-Arabism.
Here, Saudi interests became clear. No matter how the conflict develops the relationship between Iran and Israel, the U.S. will escalate. Energy prices will rise. There will be a large window of opportunity to expand Saudi influence in the region, especially if Riyadh demonstrates public neutrality or mild sympathy for the Palestinians, while tacitly helping Israel. Saudi elites have already demonstrated that they can play this field masterfully.
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