The current bombardment of villages, towns, hospitals, telecommunications and other pillars of civilian life in Gaza is the “Dahiyah Doctrine” intensified to a previously unimaginable degree. Fueled by a strategic culture that invokes moralistic justifications for extreme, undifferentiated military force as an end in itself, Israel’s current punitive campaign is of dubious security utility. Israel has carried out four devastating wars against Gaza, in 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021, with the aim of deterring or defeating Hamas. But during these years Hamas has only grown more sophisticated in its capacities and more brazen in its efforts, as the Oct. 7 attack demonstrated.