Commentary: Israel conquered gaza in a few hours in 1967 but in 2023 it hasn't even conquered half of it in 1.5 months
In the last 56 years that have passed, the Palestinians studied the art of warfare.
They studied in particular the way in which the Viet Cong staved off and defeated the US in the Vietnam War.
Adapting this strategy to their own situation in Gaza, the Palestinians built their own extensive tunnel network which they could fall back into when they needed it.
‘Viet Cong times 10’: underground warfare awaits Israeli troops in Gaza - https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3239386/viet-cong-times-10-underground-warfare-awaits-israeli-troops-gaza
On top of using tunnels, Hamas fighters are just better at hide-and-seek as compared to IDF soldiers because they know when to resurface to ground level from the tunnels they had built to engage the IDF, shooting their targets at close range.
Technically, the IDF had already been strategically defeated when the political decision was made in Tel Aviv that Israel wanted to kill every Hamas fighter.
The flushing of the Hamas underground tunnel network by Israel using seawater is a move of desperation rather than the result of strategic thinking.
Hamas has built not only a physical trap for Israel when they built their tunnels but also edified a strategic trap for Israel.
Hamas trapped Israel by making it react with bombs and heavy munitions and turning global opinion against Israel. The other possibility is negotiation with Hamas which the extreme right wing government of Israel is just not open to do. So Israel decided to bomb Gaza to smithereens, killing all and sundry.
History has a way of reacting to such injustices.
Leveling buildings above ground does not affect the tunnel network below the ground.
On the early hours of October 7 when Hamas fighters breached the gates of Gaza, the first thing they did was to overrun the border command posts where they grabbed the files - cds and physicals - pertaining to (1) Israeli surveillance in Gaza including maps that could have favored the IDF militariy and (2) the list of traitors and IDF informants living in Gaza.
This strategic move by Hamas rendered whatever the IDF had on Gaza inoperable. By the time news reached senior officials in Tel Aviv, it was too late for them to react.
Hamas freedom fighters captured a
How did Israel conquer gaza in a few hours in 1967 but in 2023 it hasn't even
In the last 56 years that have passed, the Palestinians studied the art of warfare.
They studied in particular the way in which the Viet Cong staved off and defeated the US in the Vietnam War.
Adapting it to their own situation in Gaza, the Palestinians built their own extensive tunnel network which they could fall back into when they needed it.
‘Viet Cong times 10’: underground warfare awaits Israeli troops in Gaza - https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3239386/viet-cong-times-10-underground-warfare-awaits-israeli-troops-gaza
On top of using tunnels, Hamas fighters are just better at hide-and-seek as compared to IDF soldiers. Hamas fighters know when to resurface to ground level from the tunnels they had built to engage the IDF, shooting their targets at close range.
Technically, the IDF had already been strategically defeated when the political decision was made in Tel Aviv that Israel wanted to kill every Hamas fighter.
The flushing of the Hamas underground tunnell network by Israel using seawater is a move of desperation rather than the result of strategic thinking.
Hamas has built not only a physical trap for Israel when they built their tunnels but also edified a strategic trap for Israel.
Hamas trapped Israel by making it react with bombs and heavy munitions and turning global opinion against Israel. The other possibility is negotiation with Hamas which the extreme right-wing government of Israel is just not open to do. So, Israel decided to bomb Gaza to smithereens, killing all and sundry.
History has a way of reacting to such injustices.
Levelling buildings from above ground does not affect the tunnel network below the ground.
On the early hours of October 7 when Hamas fighters breached the gates of Gaza, the first thing they did was to overrun the border command posts where they grabbed the files - cds and physicals - pertaining to (1) Israeli surveillance in Gaza including maps that could have favored the IDF militariy and (2) the list of traitors and IDF informants living in Gaza.
This strategic move by Hamas rendered whatever the IDF had on Gaza inoperable. By the time news reached senior officials in Tel Aviv, it was too late for them to react.
Hamas fredom fighters captured a number of hostages as bargaing chips in order to exchange them for (1) the release of political prisoners who had been held without trial in Israeli jails (2) the lifting of the extremely austere economic blockade on Gaza (3) freedom of movement in and out of Gaza for business and education.
By early afternoon of October 7, all the traitors to the Palestinian cause had been killed by Hamas fighters.
To be certain, the initial conditions that resulted in the current carnage in Palestine did not begin on October 7. What transpired on October 7 was a reaction to oppressive Israeli policies which included (1) the economic blockade since the early 2000s.
"..the blockade has amounted to collective punishment, hurting the living conditions of Gaza’s 2 million inhabitants while failing to oust Hamas or moderate its behavior. Gaza has almost no clean drinking water, it suffers from frequent power outages and people cannot freely travel abroad." lifted from here: UN report: Israel’s blockade has devastated Gaza economy - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/un-report-israels-blockade-has-devastated-gaza-economy
and (2) Israel's military incursions into Palestiniam territories in 2008-2009, 2012 and 2014, disrupting the lives of Palestinians, what Israeli official policy would call "mowing the lawn" by killing many Palestinians by the hundreds and even thousands.
Back to the current situation, the points to note other than those already mentioned above are intrinsic factors such as motivation.
Hamas fighters fights for liberation from injustices and rights to their land while the IDF soldier fights so that corporations that keep profit margins comfortable for board members of oil companies, facts which have been kept secret from IDF soldiers and never discussed at all.
Other than regulars in the army, the average IDF soldier is a civilian who has a day job in the Israeli economy, likely to be a family man with children to feed,a private company executive who have been conscripted to fight against highly motivated Hamas fighters.
Of course, IDF solldiers are also comprised of regular professional soldiers who are competent and motivated to perform their duties to the nation.
I will relate just one incident in order to highlight the realities on the ground in Gaza.
A platoon or a number of sections of IDF soldiers led by an officer, with a number of non-commisioned officers, were tasked to check out a house in Palestine which was suspected to be booby trapped.
The IDF officer instructed his lower ranks to begin checking and clearing the house.
As they were doing that together, they came across a booby trapped bomb in one of the rooms
The officer instructs a conscripted soldier: "Disarm the bomb."
The conscript replied: "You do it. I've got kids.."
