A leaked assessment concludes that Israel’s costly May 2025 ground offensive failed to defeat Hamas or free captives.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Sunday that a confidential internal military document acknowledges the failure of Operation Gideon’s Chariots in the Gaza Strip.
The goals of the operation, which were to subdue the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas and to secure the release of hostages, were not achieved.
According to the same source, the document highlights several reasons for this outcome.
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It notes that the planning was improvised and disorganized, that the type of operation chosen did not match Hamas’ style of combat, and that no clear operational timetable was ever established.
According to Channel 12, the document concludes that Israel committed virtually every possible mistake.
What Is “Gideon’s Chariots”?
Operation Gideon’s Chariots, launched in mid-May 2025, was an Israeli ground offensive intended to fundamentally reshape the situation in Gaza.
The name references the biblical figure Gideon, whose improbable military victories have long been evoked in Israeli military symbolism. The plan was ambitious, envisioning that Israeli forces would divide the Strip into sectors, maintain permanent control over strategic areas, and manage population movements while simultaneously applying overwhelming military pressure on Hamas.
The operation was approved by the Security Cabinet on May 4 and began around May 16–17.
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Despite the massive mobilization of troops and resources, and an estimated cost of 25 billion shekels, the operation ended inconclusively.
Israel neither achieved the destruction of Hamas’ military structures nor managed to bring back the captives alive. Analysts have described the effort as marked by flawed planning, a failure to adapt tactics to the realities on the ground, and a reliance on humanitarian policies that failed to generate the expected outcomes.
By August 2025, Israeli officials began preparing a follow-up campaign, dubbed Gideon’s Chariots II, aimed primarily at Gaza City. This new offensive was presented as a continuation of the earlier plan, but its announcement was itself seen as evidence of the first operation’s shortcomings.
(PC, AJA)
Just wait for “Gideon’s Chariots XVII – Steel Rollator” … if “Israel” is still around.
the zionist criminals could have saved their shekels… Everyone with any sense and eyes could see that the military operation, with all the assistance given by the Lying West, was a Total Failure… What the leaked document failed to mention is that Palestinian Freedom Fighters are some of the Best soldiers in the World, that they are Fighting for THEIR LAND, and that NO military operation has a snowball’s chance in Hell of ever defeating them!… strange? that the document ascribes the defeat to israel’s ” decision and practice of being TOO humanitarian ” ???!! I hope this document will be submitted as evidence for Genocide at the ICJ AND ICC!