It is usually said that war is what happens when language fails. When diplomacy ends, war begins. War is neither food nor drink. War is not in anyway compared to sitting in the midst of one’s relative having fun. War is never a good thing. War is evil in its entirety.
But for us to have peace sometimes, we must fight. War seldom becomes a necessary evil to prevent or avoid even greater consequences.
Since Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement) launched its surprised cross boarder attack on the State of Israel on October 7, 2023 which saw many Israeli military barracks near Gaza being invaded; military personnel and civilians fallen victims and hostages; and many properties lost, Israel has started its obnoxious onslaught on the Gaza strip.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on the national TV urging the Israeli military to fight bravely for their homeland even if it remains only their fingernails as this is the war of existence for them.
He vowed to go all out on all armed Palestinian resistance movements most importantly Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement) being the most influential of them; in charge of Gaza administration and mainly responsible for the October 7, 2023 attack.
He outlined some considerable objectives of war aimed at achieving as follows:
1. To free all hostages.
2. To destroy Hamas and its tunnels in Gaza.
3. To capture Hamas’ leader in person of “Yahya Sinwar” being the mastermind of the attack and the brains behind the growing influence of Hamas in Gaza and beyond; among other objectives.
But no sooner Israel began land military incursion of the Gaza strip than the humanitarian and material bills of loss began to pile up.
Israel out of his claim of avoiding civilian casualties ordered the residence of the Northern Gaza to evacuate to the southern part for their safety as on the premise that Hamas is strongly present in the Northern side.
Israel began its operation in the neighborhoods of “Solahudeen” “Jahri Deek” “Jabaaliyah” and so on in the Northern part which extends to the neighborhood of “Shejaiyyah” where the heaviest blow was dealt with one of the most elite brigades of the Israeli army “the Golani”. The blow was so heavy that the commander of the brigade’s 13 battalion col. Tomer Grinberg, 35, of Almog was one of the military personnel who paid the supreme price in an ambush during a battle in the heart of the neighborhood- It was one of the darkest days in Israel.
The US including the UK had earlier announced their decision to join Israel in search of its hostages by flying over the sky of Gaza gathering reconnaissance about their whereabouts. In fact, as at January 19, 2024, the number of spy missions flown by the UK over Gaza was according to “RT”, estimated to be around 50.
The US being the biggest supporter of Israel even directly sent her most elite and world’s best ranked special force “Delta Force” to Gaza in the earliest days of the war, all in their relentless efforts to get hostages freed and strip Hamas of any bargaining chip but the force suffered huge loss and left valuable equipment on the battlefield with some killed and wounded.
Many other allies of Israel too are not sitting with their hands crossed. Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, India among others are not holding back in providing Israel with fighter jets, the most advanced and modern weapons, precision missiles, armored personnel carriers and other logistics supplies needed to come out victorious in its war on Gaza, but all of these are to no avail. Rather than soften, the fronds of the coconut palm merely stands stiffer.
With no victory in sight, Israel decided to go deeper into the heart of Gaza in aggressive pursuit of those it labelled “TERRORISTS” with heavy aerial bombardment from the fighter jets flying intensely over the sky causing severe destruction of residential buildings and towers, lives and properties, collapse of business activities, educational and healthcare system, interruption of stable power and clean water supply, limited access to internet- sometimes zero access- demolition of places of worship and many more war crimes being committed and inflicted on the innocent civilians in blatant violation of the 159 articles of the fourth Geneva convention of 1949, which lay out comprehensive rules for the protection of civilians during wartimes; provisions for the protection of family rights, honor, religious practices and customs; humane treatment, prohibitions of violence and respect for women and children, prohibition of collective punishment among others.
In an attempt to boost the morale of the military – both active and reserve -; convince citizens of the government’s capability to make all outlined objectives of the war achievable – most importantly to free hostages- and to delude the larger world of the illusioned achievement being recorded on the battlefield, the Israeli prime minister appeared on TV announcing to the world the success of his army who has managed to get to the house of SINWAR – Hamas leader in Gaza- and eventually stumbled on his shoes, reiterating his commitment to his vow that there is nowhere they can’t reach in Gaza however hidden. Though, the question of how stumbling on a wanted person’s shoe amounts to declaring victory over an individual remains unanswered.
In another instance of embarrassing achievement announced by the Israeli authority is the case of a large tunnel discovered which extended from the Northern Gaza into near the Erez border crossing in Israel covertly built by Hamas.
The large size of the tunnel took not only the public but also the Israeli government aback. The passage through which the over 200 Israeli captives were smuggled into the Gaza strip is according to “the times of Israel” “around four kilometers (2.5 miles), goes down some 50 meters (165 feet) underground in some areas and appears to be wide enough for vehicle to pass through.”
The entryway to the tunnel is just a few hundred meters from the heavily fortified Erez crossing and a nearby Israeli military base. While Israel claimed it did not stretch into its territory, however, it raises questions about how Israeli surveillance missed such conspicuous preparations by Hamas for the deadly October 7 assault.
In another development worth mentioning, the Israeli army on Monday January 23, 2024, suffered their single largest known loss of troops when 21 reserve soldiers died as they tried to rig two buildings in southern Gaza with mines to perform a controlled demolition. According to the IDF spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, “at around 4 p.m., an RPG was fired by gunmen at a tank securing the forces, and simultaneously, an explosion occurred in two two-story buildings. The buildings collapsed due to this explosion while most of the forces were inside and near them,” he explained, adding: “one of the missiles apparently hit a mine, which exploded and caused the buildings to collapse with the soldiers inside them.” – another dark day for “the God’s chosen people.”
Desperate for image of victory after six months of war, the Israeli prime minister Netanyahu in a statement delivered at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting made it clear to the international community that, according to “The Times of Israel”: “… citing the ‘war’s considerable achievement’, Netanyahu specified that the IDF ‘has destroyed 19 of the 24 Hamas battalions,’ killed, wounded or captured ‘a significant proportion of the Hamas terrorists’, cleaned out ‘Hamas terror base at Shifa (hospital) and many other places’ and is methodically destroying the Hamas underground tunnel networks, amid other successes” [the IDF puts the number of Hamas battalions destroyed at 18].
In another address to the nation, Netanyahu made the same claim of destroying 19 of 24 Hamas battalions and that the remaining (which are in Rafah) should not be left on their foot. “There is no total victory without entering Rafah” he asserted – A southern part of the strip it is currently in.
This to an ordinary observer signals that Israel is on top of the situation on the battlefield and is one step away from ‘total victory’ – as usually claimed – over Hamas.
But the sudden return of the Israeli army to the Northern Gaza where the ground incursion was first initiated lately becomes the subject of discussion and arouses doubt about the integrity of the operation of the Israeli army and the eventual victory claimed.
Although the Israeli army gave reason as to their return to the Northern Gaza as due to the intelligence received about the resurgence of Hamas fighters in the axis, some questions are begging for answers: if Hamas has been completely destroyed in the Northern Gaza as earlier claimed, how is the recent resurgence possible? Is it only in “zaitoun” and “Jabaaliyah” that Hamas fighters have regrouped? What about “Shejaiyah” that has a long history of being a graveyard for its invaders? What about “khan Younis” that is known for being the central command and stronghold of Hamas in Gaza? What intelligence have you received about the remaining battalions? To what extent is its reliability? Are you repeating the operation from all over again? enough of this deception.
The war is more than seven-month-old; Israel is yet to achieve a single objective of war through military pressure and Hamas continues to strike powerfully as in the early days of war. Israel should go back to negotiation table and concede defeat. He who fights and runs lives to fight another day. As a member of Knesset ‘Ram bin Barak’ said: “our war in Gaza is aimless and it is clear we are losing it.”
