There can’t be many Israeli soldiers among the hundreds ready for battle who don’t silently ask themselves, “Is this a trap?” as they watch airstrikes and hot-barreled howitzers pound targets in Gaza and double-check their own weapons, communications, and webbing.
After the terrifying invasion of Israel, Hamas and its supporters in Tehran would have undoubtedly prepared for a furious ground offensive by the Israelis.
It’s possible, perhaps likely, that Hamas planned the unprecedented atrocities against so many civilians in order to ensure a massive Israeli response, regardless of the cost to Gaza’s civilian population.
The course of events, potentially for decades, will be determined by Israel’s future actions. It’s all about Gaza in the end.
Hamas has buried tunnel systems all over the Gaza Strip. It will have planted booby traps all over the aboveground terrain and planned to confront the IDF with everything from suicide bomber swarms to snatch teams to kidnap soldiers.
Israel has been receiving extensive sharing of US generals and other leaders’ experiences in urban combat.
In 2017, it took the Iraqi military nine months to push ISIS out of Mosul with the support of American, British, and other special troops as well as constant airstrikes.
Although most of the population had fled the northern Iraqi city, house-to-house fighting continued. ISIS ambushed government forces who were ruthlessly capturing Mosul brick by brick by using the tunnel networks it had constructed.
The explosive prowess of Hezbollah, a militant group based in Lebanon and a close ally of Hamas, has had an impact on the Middle East. Israeli forces will be aware that they are up against homemade explosives in Gaza, which are equipped with charges capable of damaging a tank. They will be aware that Hezbollah has improved its armor-destroying skills since Israel engaged in significant combat in Lebanon in 2006, when the militia’s level of competence astounded them.
Now that Hamas possesses anti-aircraft weapons, Israel’s Apache helicopters, which closely assist the troops, will be at risk from a single SAM-wielding individual.
