Despite Ceasefires, Netanyahu Says Israel’s War Is Far From Over — Strikes Continue in Gaza and Lebanon

Israeli strikes have persisted across Gaza and southern Lebanon despite recent ceasefire declarations and a high-profile diplomatic pledge of peace. Over consecutive days, missile and drone strikes hit a large Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon and populated areas in Gaza, causing dozens of deaths and further displacement.

On one day this week, two missiles struck the largest Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, killing at least 13 people. A separate drone strike in the city of Bint Jbeil killed an additional person. The following day, Israeli air raids struck multiple villages in southern Lebanon. In Gaza, air and drone strikes hit Gaza City, Rafah and Khan Younis, killing at least 23 people in a single day.

These operations have continued despite ceasefire agreements in both Lebanon and Gaza and a public declaration by U.S. President Donald Trump that hostilities in the region had ended. In a speech to the Knesset on 10 November — one month after a ceasefire was supposed to take effect in Gaza — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war "has not ended," and warned that Israel’s adversaries were rearming.

Ceasefires and continued violence

The ceasefires were intended to halt more than two years of intensive conflict around Gaza, but attacks have not stopped. Since the ceasefire went into effect, reporting indicates that more than 280 Palestinians have been killed. The conflict’s scope includes Lebanon and the occupied West Bank: more than 100 civilians in Lebanon have died over the past year despite a separate ceasefire declared on 27 November 2024, and strikes and raids continue across the West Bank.

“There was never any evidence that the ceasefires would be universally respected,” said Elia Ayoub, a Lebanese-Palestinian researcher, adding that a perceived lack of international accountability, together with U.S. backing, enables continued operations that harm civilians.

Politics, accountability and humanitarian impact

A summit in Sharm el-Sheikh on 13 October 2025 produced a public statement of peace, but violence has persisted on a near-daily basis. By 19 November, reporting placed the death toll from the campaign in Gaza since 7 October at 69,513 Palestinians. Human rights organizations and leading scholars have increasingly accused Israel’s conduct in Gaza of meeting the legal threshold for genocide, a claim that has drawn intense international scrutiny.

On the ground, civilians in Gaza and southern Lebanon remain unable to return home or begin reconstruction. Aid deliveries and reconstruction equipment have been targeted or restricted, and much promised assistance has yet to reach the population.

“As long as Netanyahu expects impunity, there is no reason to believe that anyone in Lebanon or Palestine is safe,” Ayoub said.

Analysts say domestic politics help explain the persistence of military operations. Rida Abu Rass, a Palestinian political scientist, argues that Netanyahu and his coalition partners have incentives to sustain a state of conflict: prolonged fighting can delay domestic legal processes, appease far-right partners, and create political space to advance long-standing policies on settlement expansion and displacement.

“His political career hangs in the balance: far-right coalition partners demand the resumption of military operations, and Netanyahu has incentives to present the conflict as ongoing,” Abu Rass said.

Netanyahu has publicly argued that adversaries are rearming and that the campaign to dismantle Hamas and other hostile groups is incomplete. Some Israeli officials and media have also suggested that Hezbollah is rebuilding forces along the northern border, though several analysts contend the group currently lacks capacity for a major renewed offensive.

Experts remain skeptical of the stated aims. Many believe that setting objectives that are difficult or impossible to meet can be used to justify a prolonged campaign and to avoid political and legal accountability. Netanyahu also faces multiple domestic corruption trials that have been repeatedly postponed due to cited national security priorities, a delay critics say benefits his political standing.

Internationally, the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and a former defense minister on charges related to the Gaza campaign. Observers who view declared ceasefires skeptically call the announcements tools that can deflect immediate scrutiny while allowing operations to continue.

“The ceasefire declarations can function as a way to delay accountability,” said Elia Ayoub, characterizing the approach as cyclical and asymmetric: one side pauses while operations by the other continue.

Outlook

With international attention shifting and diplomatic pressure uneven, analysts warn that the pattern of periodic de-escalation followed by renewed strikes is likely to continue unless sustained global pressure addresses underlying issues: occupation, disputed governance, and mechanisms for accountability. Observers call on governments, civil society and media to maintain scrutiny and diplomatic engagement to prevent renewed escalations and to support humanitarian relief.