For 17 days, Israeli ground troops and tanks have been on standby, idling in the dusty fields around the Gaza Strip. Their stated mission: Invade the Palestinian coastal enclave and destroy the military capabilities of Hamas, the armed Islamist group, and its ability to rule there.

More than two weeks after hundreds of Hamas assailants surged across the border into Israel, killing more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, and taking more than 220 hostages back to Gaza, many Israelis have been asking what the government is waiting for.

Various explanations have been put forward.

The US has been pressuring Israel to hold off to allow more time for hostage negotiations and aid deliveries, and for more US military assets to be deployed to the region. The Israeli news media is filled with reports of differences within the government and between the political leadership and the military. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, long viewed as cautious about military adventures, is thought to be still deciding when — or if — to go ahead.

So pervasive is the pall of infighting, paralysis and chaos that Netanyahu, his defence minister, Yoav Gallant — whom Netanyahu tried to fire in March — and the military chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, issued an unusual wartime statement on Monday evening assuring a traumatised public that the three were “working in close and full cooperation, around the clock, to lead the state of Israel to a decisive victory”, and professing “total and mutual trust” among them.

Then they appeared together before a security meeting and made more statements — without giving any hint of the timing of a ground invasion.

The show of unity came a day after Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesperson, said in a televised briefing that the army was awaiting a green light from the political echelon to invade Gaza.

With the initial urgency for a ground invasion appearing to have waned, supporters of Netanyahu have begun a campaign to put on the brakes, spreading a slick, anonymously produced a video on social media calling for soldiers’ lives to come first by allowing extra time for the air force to destroy Hamas’ treacherous tunnel system before troops enter Gaza.