Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

February 17, 2026

Is Israel Repeating Its Old Mistakes in Gaza?

Containment behind the yellow line.

Reporting from the central Gaza Strip, Jonathan Sacerdoti spoke to IDF soldiers who told him about Hamas’s frequent use of “sniper fire, explosives planted near positions, and attempts to edge forward under cover” to probe their positions. Israel’s policy is to “hold its fire unless a clear threat emerges.” Sacerdoti fears that such an approach is dangerously close to the containment strategy that prevailed from 2007 to 2023: 

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