Strategic Objectives of the Aggression on Gaza and Their Relation to Israel’s Project of Regional Hegemony

Ansar Allah Website · Report by Ali al-Darwani

The Palestinian cause is experiencing one of its most dangerous phases since the Zionist occupation of Palestine in 1948. The threats are no longer limited to military occupation or geographic Judaization; rather, the Zionist project has moved toward the definitive liquidation of the Palestinian cause and the establishment of comprehensive hegemony over the Arab region—politically, economically, and security-wise.
Since October 7, 2023, the Palestinian cause—and indeed the entire Arab region—has entered its most perilous stage in the history of the conflict with the Israeli enemy. Israel is hurrying to achieve its strategic objectives of implanting itself as a “cancerous member” within Arab countries, before the “prophecies of the eighth decade” come to pass, which foresee the end of the Zionist entity. These objectives are primarily based on liquidation tracks tied to a broader project of regional dominance.

Liquidation of the Palestinian Cause

Final-status issues form the core and essence of the conflict, and any peace agreement that does not include just solutions for these issues will remain fragile and temporary. All previous attempts (Camp David, Taba, Annapolis, and others) failed to reach a comprehensive settlement because these issues were left unresolved. The most prominent among these issues are: refugees and the right of return; Jerusalem; settlements; and water. On each of these fronts, the Israeli enemy works to erase the right of return; impose full sovereignty over Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa; expand settlements; annex major settlement blocs; and build new outposts.

Attempts to Erase the Refugee Issue

Regarding refugees, the Zionist entity has for decades sought to end the Palestinian refugee question by eliminating any acknowledgment of the right of return from any future settlement. This is done by pressuring host countries—such as Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon—to accept permanent resettlement. One of the tools for erasing the refugee issue is the attempt to dismantle UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) and remove this file from international discourse.
After the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation on October 7, 2023, Israel intensified its efforts to liquidate the Palestinian refugee issue by targeting UNRWA, which stands as the principal international witness to the 1948 Nakba and the refugees’ right of return. In October 2024, the Israeli Knesset passed two laws prohibiting UNRWA from operating in any activities within the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem. Israel also officially notified the United Nations that it was canceling the 1967 agreement that had allowed the agency to work in these areas, effectively ending all official relations with it.
In this context, Israel claimed that a number of UNRWA employees had participated in the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack, prompting some donor countries to suspend their funding for the agency. However, the United Nations conducted an independent investigation which concluded that there was no evidence to support these accusations and affirmed UNRWA’s neutrality.
During the brutal aggression on Gaza, UNRWA facilities—including schools and shelters—were bombed by Israeli forces, resulting in the martyrdom of more than 200 of its staff. Access to humanitarian aid provided by the agency was also restricted, which increased the suffering of Palestinian refugees.
Hamas has warned that Israel—with support from international parties led by the United States—seeks to replace UNRWA with other institutions in order to turn the refugee issue from a political matter regarding the right of return into a purely humanitarian issue, thereby helping to erase the right of return from the international agenda.
These Zionist measures aim to undermine UNRWA’s role as the international custodian of the Palestinian Nakba and to strip refugees of their rights, especially the right of return. They also exacerbate the humanitarian conditions of refugees who heavily rely on UNRWA’s services in education, healthcare, and relief. In light of these developments, UNRWA remains the last international institution concerned with Palestinian refugee rights; targeting it represents a serious step toward liquidating the Palestinian cause.

Jerusalem and the Danger of Judaization

Jerusalem is the symbolic, religious, and political heart of the Palestinian cause. Therefore, the criminal Zionist entity seeks to impose a new reality in the city by intensifying settlement construction, expelling residents, altering landmarks, and imposing absolute sovereignty over Al-Aqsa Mosque.
After the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation on October 7, 2023, the occupying entity markedly escalated its Judaization measures in Jerusalem, exploiting the international preoccupation with the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza and using settlement and religious tools to enforce a new reality in the Holy City. Al-Aqsa witnessed an unprecedented level of settler incursions—over 2,000 Zionist intruders stormed the mosque under tight security during the May 2025 anniversary of Jerusalem’s occupation. At the same time, the Knesset debated the so-called “Freedom of Worship for Jews” bill, which aims to spatially divide Al-Aqsa between Muslims and Jews and allocate 70% of its courtyards to Jewish worshippers—an apparent prelude to imposing a permanent new reality within the Noble Sanctuary.
Meanwhile, the Israeli “government” rushed to implement massive “settlement” projects, including the construction of more than 1,000 new settlement units in outposts such as “Neve Zion” and “Har Homa,” and the expansion of Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries to annex surrounding settlements like “Ma’ale Adumim” and “Givat Zeev.” These steps aim to encircle Palestinian neighborhoods and merge East Jerusalem with West Jerusalem, obstructing any possibility of a geographically contiguous Palestinian state.
Settlement organizations such as “Ateret Kohanim” and “Elad” have been active in seizing Palestinian properties within and around the Old City, especially in the neighborhoods of Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah. These associations use “legal” and financial instruments to control properties and Judaize the Islamic and Christian Quarters, threatening the Arab and Islamic character of the city.
Under the pretext of “reducing social and economic disparities,” the Israeli government launched “Decision 3790” to “develop East Jerusalem.” In reality, however, this plan serves as a cover for Judaizing the city: changing educational curricula; imposing the Hebrew language; and marginalizing Palestinian institutions—all with the aim of forcibly integrating Palestinian residents into the Israeli system.
These policies have been accompanied by measures to isolate East Jerusalem from the rest of the Palestinian territories—through security checkpoints, revoking IDs, and home demolitions—leading to the forced displacement of Palestinian families and diminishing their presence in the city.

Separating Gaza from the West Bank

The temporary occupying entity is working to cement the geographic and political division between Gaza and the West Bank by besieging Gaza and turning it into a politically separate entity, paving the way for imposing a separate solution on it disconnected from the Palestinian state project. After the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, the Zionist enemy intensified efforts to separate the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, exploiting the war on Gaza as cover to accelerate policies that undermine the unity of Palestinian lands.
The occupying entity swiftly imposed a comprehensive lockdown on the West Bank, isolating cities and villages from one another by erecting military checkpoints and concrete barriers, effectively turning the West Bank into isolated cantons. It also constructed metal walls to separate Palestinian villages from major roads—such as the barrier that cut off the town of Sinjil from Route 60—aimed at separating Palestinians from their lands and facilitating settlement expansion.
In parallel, Israel used this war to accelerate steps toward annexing the West Bank—by intensifying settlement construction, legalizing random outposts, and building a network of roads connecting settlements—further deepening the separation between the West Bank and Gaza and undermining any possibility of a geographically contiguous Palestinian state.
Meanwhile, the Israeli enemy launched large-scale military operations in refugee camps across the West Bank—such as the camps of Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams—targeting residents for displacement and aiming to erase the camps’ symbolism as emblems of the right of return.

Israel’s Project of Regional Hegemony

It is no secret that Israel, with backing from the United States, aims to establish itself as the central power in the new regional order by penetrating Arab systems of governance and building security-intelligence alliances that guarantee its supremacy and fracture the Arab front.
Whereas Palestine was once a condition for any Arab normalization, Israel now seeks “cost-free normalization” through security and trade agreements that require no political concessions, thereby weakening the cause and isolating the Palestinians from their Arab depth.
Israel also concentrates on Mediterranean gas projects, linking electricity, communications, and port networks with the countries surrounding occupied Palestine, making itself an indispensable economic hub. In all of this, Israel relies on strategic relationships with the United States and the West, while expanding its influence with countries such as China and India. Its goal is to strengthen its position and secure political and economic support that will enable it to impose its regional agenda as the principal and dominant player in the sectors of energy, resources, and technology.

Conclusion

What we are witnessing today cannot be reduced to a mere territorial dispute over borders or resources; it is an existential struggle that transcends conventional political questions. It is a battle over identity, dignity, and sovereignty—and over an entire people’s right to remain free on their land. What is being pushed under the banner of “liquidating the Palestinian cause” is not simply the end of a decades-long conflict; it is a methodical attempt to reshape the entire region according to a Zionist vision grounded in supremacy, acquisition, and exclusion, seeking to dismantle national and collective identities in service of a long-term expansionist project.
Therefore, the dangers of so-called political normalization, economic starvation, media portrayal of surrender, and deliberate distortion of Palestinians’ right to resist and return extend beyond Palestine as a geographic area—they threaten the entire Arab and Islamic worlds.
Confronting this project requires deep political and popular awareness that transcends reactive responses. It calls for building a comprehensive, long-term resistance strategy that combines grassroots popular resistance on the ground, unified political action, an effective media role in exposing the Zionist narrative, and diplomatic pressure through international forums.
This is a battle that demands Palestinian, Arab, and Islamic unity of purpose; the strengthening of public awareness; and the use of every available tool of power—from economic boycotts to digital influence—in defense of a cause that is no longer only Palestinian but fundamentally human.
Yemen’s awareness strategy and field operations, led by Mr. Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, arise from a profound understanding of these dangers and an early recognition of effective methods of resistance. Their approach is rooted in deep faith-based principles, historical and geographical truths, and the peoples’ desire to break free from foreign hegemony, building their own capacities free from catastrophic external interventions—because the freedom of nations begins by shaking off the dust of American dominance and confronting the Israeli enemy.