Heavy casualties among Israel’s army
Hamas fights in small guerrilla cells
December 25, 2023, 4:35 a.m
The international community demands that Israel should spare the civilians in Gaza. But that is exactly what could have led to increasing losses in the army. An insider reports that Hamas has also changed its tactics.
According to a media report, around two months after the start of the Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, the Islamist Hamas is causing increasing losses among Israel’s ground troops by switching to guerrilla tactics. As the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a senior Israeli officer, the soldiers were now being attacked by cells of just two to five fighters before they fled into their tunnels. They also operated from civilian refuges and used women and children to collect information and transport weapons, it was said.
Hamas also stores weapons in hundreds of empty houses. This allows their fighters to move freely, pose as civilians and grab their weapons at the last moment before an attack. According to the Israeli army, 14 of its soldiers died in fighting in the south and center of the sealed-off coastal strip over the weekend alone. A total of 153 soldiers have been killed since the ground offensive began at the end of October, the Times of Israel reported.
Change of tactics after pressure from the USA?
The increasing number has led to internal criticism that Israel is endangering its soldiers by scaling back its use of force in response to US demands to limit the number of civilian casualties, writes the Wall Street Journal. However, Israeli security officials and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied a change in tactics due to American pressure.
According to the officer quoted by the Wall Street Journal, who commands a battalion in the fiercely contested southern city of Chans Yunis, it could be months before Israel’s army gains control of the city in the same way it did in northern Gaza had been achieved.