FUTURE OF JEWISH
Jewish sources say a lot about conquering Gaza City
Joshua Hoffman
August 9, 2025

…The Torah recognizes that war is sometimes necessary, but never desirable. In the Book of Deuteronomy, we find laws distinguishing between a milchemet mitzvah (obligatory war) and a milchemet reshut (permissible war). Maimonides explained that a milchemet mitzvah includes wars of self-defense against enemies who threaten Jewish lives. By any reasonable halachic measure, the battle for Gaza City — against an armed faction sworn to Israel’s destruction, which has already carried out massacres and kidnappings — is a milchemet mitzvah. The Torah commands, “Do not stand idly by the blood of your fellow.”¹ Allowing Hamas to regroup, rearm, and plan future attacks would be the very definition of standing idly by. Meanwhile, the Talmud articulates the principle of rodef: If someone pursues another with intent to kill, one is permitted, even obligated, to stop the pursuer by any means necessary. Hamas, by both ideology and action, functions as a rodef against Israel. As such, . READ MORE