The Israeli army has rallied after initial chaotic efforts to stop an attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and is retaliating with airstrikes on streets, buildings and other sites in Gaza and sending massive reinforcements toward the enclave, reports RTE.
For many of the 2.3 million residents of the territory that Israeli forces vacated in 2005, the gathering and intense bombardment seem ominously familiar: a prelude to a ground offensive, and one that could rival or even overtake the Israeli offensive of 2008 and 2014.
An Israeli security source said a ground attack now seemed inevitable.
“People feared the bombardment of the border area was a tactic to create scorched earth before tanks advance,” said Yamen Hamad, a father-of-four who fled with his family and others from Beit Hanoun near Gaza’s north border, where blast craters have made roads impassable and buildings nearby have been turned into rubble,” reports RTE.
Israeli security sources said it took more than 48 hours to restore military cohesion, stop the infiltration and dislodge Hamas fighters from the towns they attacked on Saturday, taking the Middle East’s most powerful army by surprise.
Using decoys and relying on motorcycles, paragliders and other rudimentary equipment, Hamas fighters have killed more than 1,000 Israelis and taken dozens hostage – potentially complicating a possible Israeli response.
The source said the intention was to “softening the other side and within this, causing people to flee (built up areas). It is also about building force strength, strategy and surprise. You cannot just enter,” reports RTE.
In 2008, Israel lost nine soldiers during its invasion. In 2014, the death toll stood at 66.
This time, Hamas also took dozens of hostages – some of them soldiers, but many of them civilians – during the October 7 raid.
This represents a huge challenge for a nation whose policy is to leave no one behind. In 2011, it agreed to exchange several hundred Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who had been held for five years.
The Palestinian operation marked a colossal intelligence failure for Israel, which prided itself on its ability to infiltrate and monitor militants. It also revealed the weakness of Israel’s Southern Command.
“The communication and command of the south collapsed and there was no communication. It took time to understand the full picture,” said David Tzur, a former head of Israel’s Border Police force who also commanded the police’s elite counter-terror unit Yamam. But the said force had now recovered. Once all forces are on alert there is a quick reaction,” reports RTE.
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