From The Hartman Institute Promoted Podcast

Gaza City

Is pushing into Gaza City a necessary step—or a purposeless escalation that jeopardizes hostages, multiplies civilian suffering, and splinters national unity?

The Mushtaha Tower in Gaza City collapses from Israeli strikes on September 5, 2025 after residents were warned to evacuate, amid the war between Israel and the Hamas terror group. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Is pushing into Gaza City a necessary step—or a purposeless escalation that jeopardizes hostages, multiplies civilian suffering, and splinters national unity?

As Israel weighs an assault on Gaza City, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi debate the IDF chief’s four-part warning—military efficacy, the fate of the hostages, a spiraling humanitarian crisis, and global isolation—and whether this phase risks tearing Israel apart.

They revisit lessons from Lebanon 1982 and Yom Kippur 1973, consider if the war’s military purpose lapsed months ago, and ask whether public outrage can still halt an escalation that could endanger the hostages Israel seeks to save.

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