Israel's endgame on Gaza appears to be on track

The Gaza from before won't be allowed to exist anymore

My argument has been all along:

• This is not about eliminating Hamas (impossible)

• This is not about somehow detaching Hamas from the Palestinian people (likewise)

• This is about eliminating Gaza as a threat vector — a bad, uncontrolled space out of which regularly emerge attacks by Hamas.

That process is multifold:

• Depopulate the space by destruction that makes much of it unlivable (and slow roll any reconstruction for added incentive)

• Delimit the space with buffers and dividers that reduce its operational size considerably

• Deny any Hamas standing in what Gaza devolves into

• With enough time, encroach on Gaza with Israeli settlement activity.

The end goal is no more Gaza as we have known it.

The experiment failed and the dangers posed remain too great — as indicated by 7 October.

This approach means there is no expected Day After plan in the way that term is commonly understood — namely, a return to the status quo ante.

Gaza will never be going back to that; it is headed in a different, diminished direction now — by Israeli intent and design.

Some notes as the evidence piles up: