Heavy casualties likely amid serious challenge
Operation Iron Swords will be dangerous, unpredictable and likely to imperil the lives not only of Israeli soldiers but of hundreds of thousands of civilians too,
Israel’s top general was bullish as he inspected the young men posted close to the border with the Gaza Strip.
Gesticulating in the middle of a group of soldiers sitting on the sand, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said: “Our responsibility is to enter Gaza, go to places where Hamas is preparing, acting, planning, launching. Attack them everywhere, every commander, every operative, destroy infrastructure. In one word, to win.”
Four divisions of the Israel Defence Forces are encamped around the Palestinian territory waiting for the moment when the aerial bombardment ends and the order comes to attack.
Despite the confident tone of his battle cry, however, the chief of the general staff will know that Operation Iron Swords will be dangerous, unpredictable and likely to imperil the lives not only of Israeli soldiers but of hundreds of thousands of civilians too.
Tunnels
General Halevi has instructed his troops to find and destroy the hideouts used by Hamas to launch attacks on Israel.
That order can mean only one thing: descending into the warren of tunnels that lie below this narrow strip of Mediterranean coastline.
Hamas has said this labyrinth of tunnels, nicknamed the Gaza metro, runs to 500km in length, a figure some say is an overstatement. The claim cannot be entirely discounted, though, given the group’s previous engineering achievements.
To stop Hamas using the tunnels to move weapons around the city, the IDF will need to locate the entrance and exit for each one, possibly using robots to map the booby-trapped underground infrastructure rather than risking soldiers’ lives.
Assassination targets
The IDF will also be hunting some of the commanders involved in planning the terrorist attacks that killed more than 1400 Israelis on October 7. Top of the target list is Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The other prime target is Mohammed Deif, head of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing.
Urban warfare
The history of 21st-century battles in urban environments suggests that Israel can expect heavy casualties.
In Gaza, Hamas is likely to use insurgency tactics, positioning snipers in windows of apartment blocks, using tripwires to set off improvised explosive devices and dropping grenades on armoured vehicles from above, as well as disguising fighters as civilians.
Israel has plenty of technology to minimise losses, ranging from Skylark reconnaissance drones to Merkava 5 Lightning tanks.
But if the aim is the complete destruction of Hamas, Israel faces a serious challenge.
General Sir Richard Barrons, a veteran British commander of the counter-insurgency wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said: “Having been surprised, stung and embarrassed, the only thing Israel can do is go after Hamas. But the chances of being so successful they destroy Hamas entirely are very slim. The chances of deepening the conflict around Israel and Palestine are already much greater. Hamas intended to do that.”
The Times
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