Bombs, Betrayal, and Blame: How Israel’s False Narratives Conceal Its Military Defeat in Gaza

By: M. Sharifi

After 466 days of relentless aggression against the Gaza Strip, the Israeli regime’s protracted campaign has culminated in an ignominious defeat—a defeat marked not by the fulfillment of its ostensible objectives but by the abject failure of its military blueprint in Gaza. Over the span of 15 arduous months, Israel, despite its grandiose boasts of invincibility, cutting-edge armaments, and unwavering support from its allies, has registered no substantive achievements against Hamas.

From the inception of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, Israel has obstinately maintained that its adversaries encompass not only Hamas but also Iran, accusing Tehran of masterminding the operation. This narrative, however, is a calculated subterfuge: while Hamas emerged as the sole architect and executor of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, Iran—despite its longstanding solidarity with the Palestinian resistance—played no instrumental role in its implementation.

This spurious allegation serves a dual purpose for the embattled regime. First, it seeks to deflect accountability for its devastating loss on October 7 by insinuating that those truly responsible for that utter fiasco were not the modest Palestinian resistance but rather the formidable forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In doing so, the regime attempts to mask its humiliating setback by asserting that it was vanquished not by a mere resistant group but by an overwhelmingly powerful adversary—a narrative designed to mitigate the magnitude of its failure.

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, has castigated these mendacious claims, condemning those within the Israeli regime and its sympathizers for attributing Palestinian successes to external influences. In his denunciation, he underscored that such assertions not only diminish the agency and valor of the Palestinian people but also constitute a grave miscalculation—an underestimation of their resourcefulness and determination.

The recent ceasefire, which nullified every declared objective of the Israeli campaign, stands as irrefutable evidence of Israeli incapacity. Rather than demonstrating the prowess of a state equipped with legendary might and sophisticated weaponry, the conflict revealed that the Israeli regime can scarcely contend with the resolute and self-reliant forces of Hamas. Its desperate recourse to negotiate a ceasefire—after failing to secure even a modicum of its proclaimed aims—lays bare its inability to assert itself militarily.

Moreover, the spurious claim of Iranian participation in Operation Al-Aqsa Storm is nothing more than a transparent attempt to misdirect critical scrutiny and salvage a tarnished image. In reality, the only actor capable of aligning strategically with the Islamic Republic, in terms of challenging established adversaries within a defined operational theater, is the United States—not a regime that has consistently proven incapable of even managing a limited conflict against an insurmountable resistance.

In sum, the past 15 months have exposed Israel's hollow declarations and strategic ineptitude. Its futile endeavor in Gaza, punctuated by the baseless attribution of its defeat to Iranian machinations, stands as a damning indictment of an illegitimate regime that has resorted to bombing civilians in a desperate bid to obscure its military incompetence. The stark truth remains: Hamas has demonstrated its capability to undermine Israel, while the latter’s attempts to cloak its defeats by pointing fingers at Iran only serve to further erode its credibility on the international stage.