Israeli soldiers only penetrated the Gaza Strip last weekend in a small area and with a few tanks. There are several theories for the limited invasion. Evidence points to a longer operation.
When Israel’s tanks rolled into the Gaza Strip on the night from Friday to Saturday, many assumed that the invasion had been announced for a long time. In reality, however, the use was limited. According to its own statement, the Israeli military bombed the Gaza Strip with “unprecedented firepower”, which resulted in a breakdown of the network and internet connection. Gaza was like a black box from which no information leaked out. Only live streams from the BBC and other media captured images and videos of rocket strikes that turned the black sky fiery red every minute. However, there can hardly be any talk of a large-scale ground offensive over a large area.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the seemingly limited invasion as the “second phase” of the war with Hamas. The main aim was to maximize firepower against Hamas and keep its own losses as low as possible, said former Israeli officials “Financial Times” (FT). At the same time, Israel is trying not to drag other opponents such as Iran or Hezbollah into the war.
In their nightly action, the first incursions by the Israeli armed forces took place in the north and center of the Gaza Strip: near Beit Hanoun in the north and near Bureij in the center of the Gaza Strip. A video circulating on social media purports to show an Israeli advance on Salaheddin Street, the main road that runs through the Gaza Strip. In the video, filmed from a car, you can see an Israeli tank shooting at an approaching car in the distance. Since Hamas and the Palestinians do not have tanks, it must be an Israeli tank.
Surgery could take up to a year
According to the FT, some military experts believe that this approach suggests that Israel could try to encircle Gaza City gradually – from the north and south. Israeli officials have long claimed that the city is the base for much of Hamas’ military infrastructure. Brigadier General Gilad Keinan of the Israeli Air Force said on Saturday that around a hundred warplanes fired hundreds of projectiles overnight and destroyed hundreds of Hamas targets. “The goal is clear: to destroy everything that has to do with Hamas.”
But there are also reasons for attacking on a small area at a tactical level. This made it easier for ground troops to receive air support as they advanced – important cover in parts of the northern Gaza Strip, where Hamas has been preparing defensive measures for years. “We are not taking any risks,” Amir Avivi, former deputy commander of the Israeli military’s Gaza division, told the FT. “When our soldiers maneuver, we do so with massive artillery, with 50 aircraft overhead destroying everything that moves.”
Another reason for sending fewer troops to the Gaza Strip could be that Israel has to station troops on four fronts. The attacks by the Lebanese Hezbollah militia on the border with southern Lebanon tie up forces that the Israeli army cannot deploy in the Gaza Strip. Behind the various threat scenarios on several fronts is the so-called “principle of oversaturation,” says Austrian Colonel Markus Reisner ntv.de. One can clearly see that the local terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah, with Iran in the background, are trying to bind both Israel and its allies on several fronts so that they are not able to concentrate all their forces centrally in the Gaza Strip. .
Yaakov Amidror, a scholar at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America and a former national security adviser, believes the initial limited incursion is a sign that Netanyahu’s stated goal of “completely destroying” Hamas will not be completed quickly can. “The goal is not a tactical goal that we will achieve tomorrow,” he said. According to the report, he expects it to last between six months and a year.
“Who says it’s going to be a big ground offensive?”
The first fighting between Hamas and Israelis is said to have occurred on Sunday at the Erez border crossing. Hamas terrorists are said to have emerged from a tunnel nearby. Nevertheless, the resistance that Israeli troops encountered was not great, said military correspondent and author Amos Harel, according to the FT.
Israeli forces have advanced three to four kilometers into the Gaza Strip but have not yet been involved in urban fighting. “The logic seems to be to apply pressure, force Hamas fighters out of their tunnels and then attack them,” Harel said. “The only thing worse than fighting in urban terrain is fighting in the rubble of urban terrain,” Eyal Hulata, who was chairman of Israel’s National Security Council until the beginning of the year, told the FT. “There are so many places where they can hide and carry out ambushes.”
It is still unclear why Hamas did not fire more anti-tank missiles at Israeli vehicles. However, Hamas’s reaction says nothing about future ground offensives. The false assessment that Israeli intelligence made about Hamas’ capabilities and intentions was evident on October 7th.
It is not yet possible to determine how the Israeli armed forces will proceed in the Gaza Strip based on their first advance. The spokesman for the Israeli army, Arye Sharuz Shalicar, gave a hint to ntv before the start of the offensive on Friday: “Who says it will be a big ground offensive?” Needle pricks could also produce results.