There will be no resolution of the war in Gaza and Lebanon without one or more diplomatic agreements, IDF sources said on Wednesday.
The IDF believes it has significant military achievements on both fronts but that diplomatic moves by the political echelon will be necessary to translate those military wins into long-term progress and stability.
Absent a stable plan for managing Gaza post-war, the IDF believes that Hamas can easily still return to areas where the IDF previously achieved operations control, as occurred with Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.
Israel faces another escalation in North
All of this comes as the IDF and Hezbollah have seen another round of escalations in the last 72 hours, with 12 Lebanese terrorists killed and multiple Lebanese drone bases destroyed deep in Lebanon, an Israeli killed, multiple Israelis wounded, and Hezbollah attacks which have come closer to harming IDF bases.
In these recent rounds, Hezbollah has fired over 110 rockets at Israel, signaling that despite its losses of over 300 of its forces to date, it is not close to bending to Israel's desired outcome regarding security for the northern border.
IDF's Shifa Hospital operation takes longer than expected
Regarding the operation against terrorists in Shifa Hospital, it is expected to continue for at least a few more days, given that some dozens of terrorists are still holed up in two buildings at the sprawling complex.
This will mean that the operation will take at least two weeks when it was initially estimated to take one week.
Despite claiming that it has obtained significant new intelligence regarding Israeli hostages and Hamas's leadership, there are no current signs that the IDF will imminently be able to save more hostages or kill more of the leadership.
Honing in on Rafah, the IDF is not close to an operation in the coming weeks, though after Ramadan, suc an operation could be more possible.
Even in that scenario, it is expected that it would take many weeks if not longer, to evacuate the 1.4 million Palestinian civilians there in a way that would get them to a place where there would be sufficient tents, field hospitals, and food to maintain their health.
According to the IDF, it is not enough to evacuate the civilian population rather the setting up of infrastructure to receive them in new spots, whether at al-Muasi near the coast, back to part of Khan Yunis, or back to part of central Gaza, is equally critical.