Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, having rejected a US-initiated Gaza ceasefire and calls from Western allies to avoid a wider Middle East war, has put into motion his own more bellicose plan: to secure Israeli military dominance in the region he feels has slipped away.

Netanyahu considers Hamas's military defeat a first step toward closing loopholes left over from the conclusion of past wars that, in his mind, guaranteed future ones. The Israeli leader clearly wants only decisive victories.