TEHRAN- When the Israeli regime waged its indiscriminate war against Gaza on 7 October, the public in Israel was strongly supportive of the war and the regime's three officially declared objectives. 

These objectives were to return the captives held in the enclave, remove Hamas from power and governance as well as bring security to the Israelis. 
As the war was dragging on, opinion polls conducted by the regime's media showed a growing trend in the number of Israelis who wanted the captives to return through military action. 

Yet at the same time, there was always very strong and solid support for the military to continue its war on Gaza and "eliminate Hamas". That was always the main goal of the Israeli public. 
However, over the past weeks, that trend appears to have changed. Surveys have shown that public appetite for the war is shifting. 
A new survey for Tel Aviv University now indicates another shift in the tide with 51 percent of Israeli respondents saying the main goal for the regime should be "returning the hostages from Gaza in any way possible". 

That number is up from 33 percent who were surveyed by the same poll in November. 

Meanwhile, 43 percent said the government of Benjamin Netanyahu should aim to destroy Hamas in Gaza in any way possible. 

That number is also down from almost 60 percent two months ago. 

It suggests a changing mood in the occupied Palestinian territories over the fact that the Israeli military has failed to recover a single captive in Gaza (in combat) during its longest war on the enclave in living memory. 

Furthermore, around 85 percent of the Israeli settlers said the war on Gaza is harming or greatly harming "Israel", and more than half (53 percent) said Netanyahu's government objectives toward the war are not clear. 

This poll followed reports in Israeli media, citing hospital data, as saying 4,000 Israeli soldiers have been disabled for life. 

The reports do not mention if the 4,000 soldiers have been left disabled while fighting in Gaza, the northern front with Hezbollah, or in the occupied West Bank. 

Israeli media estimates, citing hospital sources, indicate that the number of disabled soldiers could reach up to 20,000 or even 30,000 over the coming months if there is no ceasefire. 

There has been no war that the regime has waged throughout its history in which so many soldiers have been disabled. 
There are only reports on disabled Israeli soldiers. The total number of soldiers who have sustained serious, moderate, and mild injuries or left in critical condition has not been disclosed. 

The Israeli military is only announcing the injuries of a dozen and sometimes dozens of soldiers on an almost daily basis now. 

With such a high number of Israeli soldiers disabled or injured, the question that everybody is asking is how many Israeli soldiers have been killed? 
Experts say this will only be announced by the regime once the war on Gaza ends, but given the high number of disabled soldiers, the regime's official number of around 200 dead soldiers is an undercount. 
Analysts say it explains why Netanyahu and his ministers are so eager for the war to carry on as long as possible. 

The reality on the ground is that the Palestinian resistance and Hezbollah are inflicting heavy losses on the Israeli military. 

A sensitive fact being felt by the Israeli public is that hundreds of thousands of settlers have been displaced since October last year and are still waiting to return to their settlements. 

For civilians in Gaza, the humanitarian situation has become "appalling," according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. This remains the only achievement of the Israeli military in the coastal enclave.
Hamas is still putting up a fierce resistance. Rockets and missiles continue to rain down on Israeli settlements, and no captives have been recovered through Israeli military force. 
During a meeting of the UN Security Council focused on West Asia on Wednesday, Guterres said: 

"The humanitarian situation in Gaza is appalling. With winter bearing down, 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza face inhumane, squalid conditions, struggling to simply make it through another day without proper shelter, heating, sanitary facilities, food, and drinking water. 

Everyone in Gaza is hungry – with a quarter of Gaza’s population – more than half a million people – grappling with catastrophic levels of food insecurity." 

The UN head then issued a sharp rebuke of the Israeli regime, saying, "The entire population of Gaza is enduring destruction at a scale and speed without parallel in recent history." 

"Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people," he added. 

Having failed to achieve any of its three stated missions in Gaza and having endured a colossal military failure in the enclave, the Israeli regime, according to the United Nations, is taking its anger out on   Palestinian civilians. 

It wouldn't be surprising to see Israeli public opinion shifting even further away from Netanyahu's stated missions in the regime's war on the Gaza Strip.