[News Terms] Israel's Failed 'Jandi Kkakkgi Strategy'

The 'Mowing the grass strategy' is Israel's approach to dealing with Hamas, the Palestinian armed faction, by continuously responding to small-scale clashes or provocations, avoiding large-scale wars, and maintaining security.

Just as grass is left alone until it grows a little and then mowed when it becomes somewhat overgrown, Israel has watched Hamas's small provocations but responded with force when they crossed a certain threshold.

Israeli military armored vehicles gathered near the Gaza Strip border on the 20th (local time).
[Photo by Israel EPA/Yonhap News]

Since Hamas took control of the Palestinian Gaza Strip in 2007, Israel has fought four wars with them. Nevertheless, following the mowing the grass strategy, Israel controlled the supplies entering Gaza for 17 years, periodically conducting airstrikes and shelling or deploying ground forces (twice in 2008 and 2014), but did not pursue a 'decisive victory.' Concluding that the Palestinian conflict could not be resolved politically or militarily, Israel managed risks and maintained security through this approach.

On the 7th (local time), Hamas's attack against Israel led to assessments that Israel's mowing the grass strategy had failed.

Every time Israel tried to mow the grass called Hamas, the grass always grew back more than before, causing the cost and damage of mowing to increase exponentially. In May last year, Israel announced that over 11 days, it used F-16 fighter jets and precision-guided bombs to destroy Hamas's underground tunnels, special forces members, ships, and 14,000 rockets. This attack resulted in 243 casualties, including over 100 children and women.

However, just a year and a half later, Hamas fired 5,000 rockets, neutralizing Israel's Iron Dome air defense system, and infiltrated Israeli territory by crossing the separation barrier using hang gliders and boats. The grass, Hamas, which was thought to have been mowed but was not, launched an unexpected attack that killed more than 1,400 people in Israel and took over 200 hostages. Following this, Israel's retaliatory attacks have continued, with over 5,000 deaths in Gaza alone as of the 23rd (local time).

The recent signs of internal division within the Israeli government regarding plans for a ground offensive in Gaza are due to this background. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior military officials had warned that a ground operation to eliminate Hamas was imminent immediately after Hamas's attack. However, even 17 days after the surprise attack by Hamas, the ground operation has not yet fully commenced.

According to the British daily Financial Times (FT) on the 24th (local time), insiders familiar with Israel's internal affairs and Western diplomats analyzed that factors delaying the start of the ground operation include the Israeli military's lack of preparedness, the impact of the ground operation on more than 200 hostages held by Hamas, and concerns that Hezbollah, the anti-Israel armed group in southern Lebanon, might intervene in the war.

Another reason Israel has not launched a ground offensive is the uncertain fate of Gaza after Hamas's removal. The American daily Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently quoted a U.S. government official saying, "If you destroy Hamas, what will fill that vacuum? When Al-Qaeda was destroyed, ISIS (the extremist armed group Islamic State) emerged. If Hamas is destroyed, Hamas 2.0 will emerge."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.