How the Gaza War Must End

John Spencer is a professor of urban warfare at West Point who has closely studied the war in Gaza ever since it began, as well as other campaigns fought by the IDF, and has concluded that “Israel has done more to prevent civilian casualties in war than any military in history — above & beyond what international law requires.”

Now he has written a piece on the absolute necessity for Hamas to be completely defeated, both militarily and politically, in Gaza. More of his strictures on how this war must end can be found here: “No one should want ceasefire in Gaza until clear defeat of Hamas – opinion,” by John Spencer, Jerusalem Post, June 1, 2025:

…War is always tragic. But some wars are necessary. The just purpose of war is not vengeance—it is justice, deterrence, and the restoration of peace. But peace is not possible with an armed, fanatical regime in Gaza that seeks your destruction and views the murder of civilians as a divine duty. Wars of self-defense must end with unmistakable clarity.

Germany in 1918 was defeated militarily, but the war ended with ambiguity. The Allies allowed the German army to retreat intact. The result was the “stab-in-the-back” myth that fueled Nazism and led to an even more catastrophic war. In 1945, the Allies made no such mistake. Nazi Germany was not just defeated—it was destroyed as a governing entity. So was Imperial Japan. And just as importantly, the German and Japanese populations came to see and accept that their regimes had been defeated. Both societies underwent years of disarmament, reconciliation, and comprehensive deradicalization. Only then could Europe and the Pacific begin to rebuild in peace.

Israel faces the same choice today. Ending this war without defeating Hamas means condemning Israelis—and Palestinians—to unending conflict. It means October 7 becomes not a cautionary tale, but a case study in successful terrorism, lawfare, hostage taking, and wars of aggression.

Israel is currently achieving real, measurable success in its military campaign. Operation Gideon’s Chariot has transitioned from massed maneuvers to coordinated clear-and-hold operations across Gaza. The IDF has successfully seized and is now holding terrain in areas once dominated by Hamas battalions. Elite Israeli units continue to dismantle Hamas’s underground networks, rocket infrastructure, weapons production sites, and command centers—undermining the group’s ability to wage war.

In parallel, Israel has established a new humanitarian mechanism—the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation—to deliver food, water, and medicine directly to civilians without going through Hamas. This is critical. For years, Hamas maintained power not only through fear and force but also by monopolizing aid distribution and punishing dissent. That monopoly is now being broken. For the first time in nearly two decades, signs of civilian defiance are emerging: Gazans protesting Hamas’s theft, rejecting their authority, and calling them out publicly….

Gazans have begun to come out to demonstrate against Hamas, something they would never have done when Hamas was still riding high. Now the terror group has been so weakened, and the opposition to it so widespread among the population, that it dare not try to crush such signs of dissent, as it would have done just a few months ago. And in addition to those demonstrations against Hamas by ordinary Gazans, several major clans — powerful families with hundreds or even thousands of fighters — have begun to challenge Hamas’ power in what they regard as their “territories.”

The hypocrisy must stop. The reality must be accepted: peace will never come while Hamas remains intact. There is no future in which Gaza flourishes while Hamas remains in power. There is no future in which Israelis or Palestinians are safe if October 7, hostage taking, lawfare, and human shielding are seen as a path to political leverage.

We would live in a very different world if the Allies had not pursued victory in 1945. We will live in a dark and dangerous world if Hamas is allowed to claim one now.

Let it be clear—to Hamas and to the world—that they lost this war. Anything less guarantees a future of endless violence.

And that is what Israel is trying to do. Even should it agree to another ceasefire, in order to obtain the release of the remaining hostages, it will not agree to halt the war entirely, as Hamas is now demanding. Prime Minister Netanyahu knows that the IDF must not stop until Hamas is thoroughly crushed, all of its remaining weapons seized, its commanders and many of its fighters forced into exile, so that it has no power to revive and reconstruct itself. If the world truly wants to ensure a durable peace between Gaza and Israel, and the possibility of Gazans no longer living under the jackboot of Hamas, but enjoying a democratic and technocratic government, in a demilitarized Strip, that will focus on creating a viable economy instead of yet again preparing for a hopeless war against the Jewish state, then the world must support, not denounce, IDF’s efforts to smash Hamas to smithereens.