What Does Applying the Pattern of Ali al-Taher Explosions in Lebanon to the Gaza Strip Mean

Author

Ameer Makhoul

The Israeli army has presented its recommendations to the political level to implement a model similar to the explosion of the Ali Taher Heights in southern Lebanon in the heart of the Gaza Strip and dismantle Hamas's stronghold. The Walla website and military affairs editor Amir Bohbot reported on September 20, 2026, the army's recommendations to carry out a major operation in the city of Gaza targeting most Hamas leaders and destroying the infrastructure and tunnel networks and secret communications. The army justified its estimates by the movement's refusal to disarm and its reluctance to hand over power to an alternative authority as stipulated in the Peace Council's plan.

As previously reported on the Walla website, the Peace Council's plan, encouraged by the United States and Gulf countries, involves recruiting thousands of Fatah members from the Gaza Strip for training and maneuvers in Egypt, with the aim of transforming them into a police force responsible for taking over from Hamas's security apparatus. However, some elements within the security establishment oppose this step, as does the political leadership in Israel, which has led to its suspension.

The army's estimates, according to the same source, add that in light of the stagnation that Israel has reached with the Peace Council and representatives of the United States regarding everything related to the disarmament of the Gaza Strip, it has become clear that the Israeli army is preparing for a wide-scale invasion of all neighborhoods in the city of Gaza, where Hamas leaders, senior military wing officials, and field commanders are located.

Accordingly, sources in the security institution claim that if Hamas does not disarm and hand over the bloody rule to an alternative force, the Israeli army will have to apply the model of Ali Taher Heights in the heart of Gaza City as well.

The army sees the explosion of Ali Taher Heights in Lebanon on September 10 as a major strategic blow to Hezbollah following the targeting of its top leadership and communication device explosions, and it considers it decisive. According to the Israeli army, it used 1,100 tons of highly powerful explosives, equivalent to an earthquake of 4.1 – 4.3 according to most Israeli media, which led to a comprehensive explosion both underground and above ground of the party's most important operational strongholds. The operation indeed took place amid Israeli-Lebanese negotiations under American sponsorship, which are currently stalled, and a slowdown in the experimental withdrawals initiated by the Israeli army in favor of the Lebanese army.

In a closed meeting on September 15, it was reported that Israeli Chief of Staff Zamir stated before Netanyahu and Katz that "Hamas has been defeated," while there are military leaders seemingly supported by the Minister of Security and a permanent war doctrine that calls for a decisive blow in the form of massive simultaneous explosions underground and above ground. Meanwhile, the economic website Calcalist published on September 15, 2026, a report regarding the signing of a deal that provides the United States with Israel with tens of thousands of deadly and massive bombs weighing one ton each, valued at $2.5 billion. According to Israeli media, they are primarily intended for operations in Lebanon and Gaza, after being used in the explosions at Ali Taher Mountain in Lebanon.

The army's recommendations regarding replicating the explosion experience in Lebanon form an executable plan adopted by the political level, exclusively by Minister of Security Katz and Netanyahu's office, coinciding with the renewed threat of displacing Gaza entirely, as Katz threatened in the event of a soldier being kidnapped, while the army denied that this reflects its estimates regarding the likelihood of kidnapping.

The difference between Gaza and Lebanon regarding the explosions is significant, as there is no area free of residents, exclusively the displaced in Gaza City, which puts them in direct collective danger. Additionally, the nature of the Lebanese land and the country's topography differ from Gaza, being mountainous and rocky compared to Gaza's sandy and flat terrain. Experts believe that an explosion in Gaza on the scale of what occurred in Lebanon could undermine what remains of buildings in Gaza, causing them to collapse on their inhabitants. Considering that the Israeli army controls more than two-thirds of the area of the Gaza Strip and the entire sector operationally. If the operation succeeds, the army will return to the yellow line.

Unlike the political level, the army has stated several times that operational control is achieved in Gaza as well as in Lebanon. What is notable is that, contrary to the position of its leadership, voices within the army have begun to emerge calling for the completion of tasks, asserting that they are not yet finished. These are political voices that align with the approach of the political level. Officially, what is issued by the army is that the tasks in both Lebanon and Gaza have been completed, and it is up to the political level to make a decision, having the option between escalation or ending operations and entering into negotiations with the Lebanese state as well as with the Islamic Council and its executive body.

In summary, there is a trend in the army supported by the political level, preferring to carry out a major operation in Gaza that resembles the explosion of the Tahir Mountain in Lebanon, aimed at eliminating the last strongholds of Hamas according to the plan, to prepare the ground for advancing a plan to end the war, which it seems the Israeli government is not interested in but is unable to continue evading its implementation. It appears that there is what is called an American green light, as the goal is to pave the way for advancing Trump's plan, which his administration insists prioritizes disarmament first.

The plan to explode the city of Gaza also intersects with renewed threats of complete displacement, which does not necessarily have to be a population transfer; the scale of the explosions alone is sufficient for what remains of houses and buildings to collapse on their inhabitants, both owners and displaced persons.

In our estimation, such a plan in the Gaza Strip also has implications for Egyptian national security, whether in terms of displacement or in hindering reconstruction and the transfer of authority in the sector.