As the IDF announced the imminent mobilisation of some 80,000 reservists in preparation for the decisive battle to seize Gaza City, the prospect of a negotiated deal with Hamas – one that could secure the release of the 20 hostages believed to still be alive, along with the remains of 30 others presumed dead – appears to be slipping further out of reach.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to political and diplomatic sources within the far-right coalition that has dominated Israel’s government for nearly three years, is ‘resolute in pursuing the war, even at the grave cost such a course is expected to exact.’ For him, the campaign has become not merely a matter of policy but of survival.

Yet even within the military’s top brass, doubts run deep. The mobilisation order was issued

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