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From Deterrence to Proactive Offense: Oct. 7 Reshaped IDF Doctrine, Technology, and Urban Warfighting

(Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security) Yaakov Lappin - Hamas's mass murder attack on Oct. 7, 2023, has transformed the IDF's main strategic doctrine and its operational tactics for enabling long-term urban warfare. At the heart of this change is the doctrinal directive that concepts of deterrence and containment must be replaced by a proactive and continuous dismantling of enemy capabilities as they form around Israel, both near and far. Enemy intentions and ideological commitment to eradicating the Jewish state in order to create an Islamic state and eventually a global caliphate must be taken at face value. Israel's previous conceptual framework assumed that adversaries could be managed through calibrated responses. However, this approach failed to account for the ideological and religious motivations of jihadist decision-makers, who are willing to incur immense costs to achieve their ultimate goal of eradicating Israel. Israel's new perspective is inherently offensive and replaces its passive-defensive posture. It is supported by a daily willingness to engage in proactive strikes to prevent threats from ever reaching the border. Israel's ongoing multi-arena war has highlighted the increasing significance of real-time intelligence, UAVs, artificial intelligence, digital command systems, and satellites as indispensable assets in modern warfare, transforming intelligence gathering, strike capabilities, and battle management. The IDF employs Elbit's Digital Ground Army system to maneuver across enemy territory in a coordinated manner. Battlefield digital maps, offering multiple levels of situational awareness, display the precise locations of soldiers, vehicles, and the enemy, allowing commanders to order firepower strikes through screen interfaces. During the IDF's preemptive operation against Iran's nuclear facilities and ballistic missile infrastructure, UAVs executed 500 strikes and interdictions within Iranian territory. The war against Hamas in Gaza has decisively demonstrated that while airpower and intelligence are crucial, they alone cannot achieve decisive tactical or strategic results in complex urban environments, emphasizing the centrality of an active and capable ground army.
2025-09-25 00:00:00
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