/ world today news/ Hamas knows Israel better than the IDF – the Gaza Strip
The IDF assault units are stuck in the urban area of Gaza and in the villages in the northern part of the Strip. The Israeli army is suffering losses. The intense fighting in the area confirms an assessment by the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) that Hamas units in the northern part of the Strip are covering the main defensive fortifications in central Gaza City.
The IDF released a map showing the area of responsibility of a Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad company between the villages of al-Toam and al-Fallujah. In just one day, this unit carried out eight attacks against Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortars.
Satellite images reviewed by ISW show traces of tanks and cleared terrain. This shows that the Israelis are conducting demining operations.
The IDF does not disclose the number of armored vehicles lost. And Hamas claims to have destroyed 24 armored vehicles in the battle zone: Merkava IV tanks, Namer armored personnel carriers and Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozers.
ISW experts expect Palestinian militants to increase their use of improvised explosive devices and advanced ATGMs. Despite the IDF ground operation, several groups (Al-Qassam Brigades, Al-Quds Brigades and National Resistance Brigades) continue to fire rockets and mortars into Israeli territory. The target of one of the attacks is Tel Aviv.
Professor Dover: Hamas fighters have been training under Israel’s nose for years
International experts are asking what will happen after the end of the IDF ground operation in the Gaza Strip. And not only them – it seems that politicians in the Jewish state are still undecided about what to do with Palestine.
Israel, we recall, already occupied the Gaza Strip from 1967 to 2005 after the Six-Day War. It invaded this territory in 2014. After the deoccupation of the strip and the liquidation of Israeli settlements, Hamas took control of the territory. True, not in a peaceful way, but actually as a result of the civil war in Palestine.
The Israeli authorities initially underestimated Hamas not only in a military but also in a political aspect.
It was a discovery for Israel that the movement could organize a large-scale operation with all the necessary strict security measures, planning and detailed knowledge of the territory, writes the Financial Times.
At the same time, Hamas has demonstrated the ability to copy Israeli technology. The IDF used Caterpillar D9 fighters to clear the occupied territories, and Palestinian fighters used bulldozers to demolish border barriers during the October 7 attack.
Robert Dover, a professor of intelligence and national security at the University of Hull, writes in the Conversation that Israel has overestimated Hamas’ peace-loving nature.
Tel Aviv came to view the movement as less openly hostile and more focused on the economic development of Palestine.
While Israel was led to believe that it was containing war-weary Hamas by providing economic incentives to Gazan migrants. At the same time, the soldiers of the military wing were undergoing training.
„Hamas has used unprecedented tactics in recent months to mislead Israel into giving the public the impression that it is not prepared for battle or confrontation while preparing a major military operation.” an unnamed military source told Reuters.
Newsweek: Israeli intelligence didn’t even believe the US data
Hamas built a model Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip, where stormtroopers practiced sabotage, sabotage and takeover tactics.
The militants, Professor Dover adds, have accurate intelligence on the Iron Dome air defense system and other Israeli military technology. This is why the IDF now faces such fierce resistance. Furthermore, even during the Israeli army’s invasion, Hamas continued to fire rockets at Israel.
Newsweek writes that as early as 2014, the West Point Counterterrorism Center studied Hamas’s military tactics in detail. US intelligence has described the Palestinian fighters as “resolute and adaptable”.
„…during Operation Indestructible Rock in 2014, Hamas engaged Israeli ground forces. At the same time, Hamas fighters used RPGs, machine guns, mortars, short-range rockets and ATGMs. Hamas fighters were more effective and aggressive than in past conflicts, taking Israeli forces by surprise and coordinating fire.” Newsweek cited a classified intelligence memo from the Counterterrorism Center.
Apparently, Israeli military intelligence has ignored the opinion of its American counterparts. And in the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, the IDF ran into a powerful and underrated Palestinian military machine.
Translation: ES
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