(Un)Limited Force: Regional Realignments, Israeli Operations, and the Security of Gaza

Abstract

This chapter examines the impact of recent political realignments in the security system of the Gulf Region and the broader Middle East vis-a-vis Israel upon the security of Gaza. The argument is presented that over the past decade and a half, regional and international constraints upon Israel have been the primary determinant of the limitations on both the scope and scale of recurrent Israel Defense Force assaults upon the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, the current reconfiguration of regional political alliances in favor of Israel has led to a conspicuous absence of these constraints on the Israeli resort to force in Gaza. Already subject to a disastrous humanitarian situation as a result of the decade-long Israeli blockade, Gaza’s unprecedented political isolation in the wake of Operation Protective Edge (2014) has left it exceptionally vulnerable to the undeterred effects of Israeli occupation, blockade, and assault.