The Israeli army continues to build up on the Gaza border and is ready to launch a large-scale ground offensive with the goal of eliminating the political and military leadership of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas. Experts believe that the Israeli military may be plunged into bloody urban street battles in the next few months. The combat environment with dense buildings, mines, tunnels, and a large number of civilians will be a severe test for the Israeli military.
Hamas has built a giant tunnel system in the densely populated Gaza Strip, which the Israeli military calls the “Gaza Metro.” These mysterious tunnels are of important strategic significance to Hamas. In addition to being used to smuggle weapons and launch attacks, they can also use civilians above the tunnels as human shields to avoid Israeli attacks and encirclement.
A few days ago, Israel asked millions of residents in northern Gaza to evacuate to the south within 24 hours and dispatched ground troops for the first time to prepare for an attack on Gaza. Analysis points out that in the next ground offensive, the Israeli army will focus on attacking the tunnel network built by Hamas under Gaza City in order to weaken Hamas’s military strength.
The Israeli military estimates that Hamas has dug a large number of secret tunnels deep underground in Gaza to avoid enemy reconnaissance and encirclement. This is one of the tunnels discovered by the Israeli military in March 2014. (Israel Defense Forces website)
Hamas said in 2021 that it had built a 500-kilometer tunnel system under Gaza City, which is home to 2 million Palestinians and covers an area of approximately 34 square miles. It is reported that Hamas uses these mysterious tunnels to transport personnel and goods, store rockets and ammunition, etc., and even use them as Hamas’s command and control center to avoid the prying eyes of Israeli military reconnaissance aircraft.
The Washington Post reported that this ground battle will be the most important mission of the Israel Defense Forces in many years.
McKenzie, the former commander of the U.S. Central Command who resigned last year, said: “I think they (Israeli military) will hit hard this time, and it will be a bloody battle for everyone.” He expected the Israeli military to fall into chaos, Street fighting with unpredictable consequences.
Israel’s military equipment and training are superior, and Hamas’s urban combat efficiency is high.
Bruce Hoffman, an anti-terrorism expert at Georgetown University in the United States, pointed out that although the Israeli army has advantages in equipment and training, it is difficult to fight urban warfare in Gaza, especially since Hamas is preparing to fight the Israeli army in Gaza. , then the two sides are likely to engage in fierce street fighting.
Mick Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official, said Hamas has become very effective in fighting urban areas and is well prepared for an incursion by Israeli ground forces, which would offset Israel’s advantages in numbers and weaponry.
Daphne Richemond-Barak, a professor at Israel’s Lekman University and an expert on underground warfare, told US media: “This is a very complex and huge tunnel network built in a fairly small territory.”
It is unclear how much money Hamas spent building this underground network. However, since Hamas seized actual control of Gaza in 2007, Israel has implemented a comprehensive blockade of Gaza and strictly controlled the entry and exit of people and materials. Therefore, it is difficult to find large-scale machinery and equipment for tunnel construction locally.
The Israeli military calls the underground tunnels dug by Hamas the “Gaza Metro.” After the conflict broke out in 2021, the Israeli army claimed to have destroyed more than 100 kilometers of tunnels in air strikes, while Hamas stated that the tunnel system was 500 kilometers long, so only 5% of the tunnels were attacked. (Photo courtesy of Lianhe Zaobao)
Spend huge sums of money to build an underground maze and use civilians as human shields
Experts say Hamas may be using rudimentary excavation tools to dig underground networks of underground tunnels connected by wires and reinforced with concrete. Israel accuses Hamas of using concrete intended for civilian and humanitarian purposes to build the tunnels; other critics say the money spent on building the tunnels could have been used to build civilian air raid shelters and early warning networks.
However, for Hamas, tunnels can give them a certain advantage in asymmetric warfare and offset the more advanced military and technological advantages of the Israeli army.
Barak explained that because this tunnel is built under a densely populated city, the tunnel problem will be more difficult to deal with than a secret tunnel dug in a mountainous area. “If you are in urban areas, everything becomes more complex, especially in terms of tactics, strategy and operations, and of course ensuring the protection of civilians,” she said.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Kazakhstan conflict, the Israel Defense Forces have repeatedly stated that Hamas militants hid in “tunnels under houses or in buildings inhabited by innocent Gaza civilians” and used these civilians as human shields to avoid Israeli attacks. The army encircled and suppressed.
The picture is from the Israel Defense Forces website. The Israeli army said that Palestinian Hamas would rather spend huge sums of money to build underground tunnels than use money to improve people’s livelihood in Gaza. (Israel Defense Forces website)
This article is reprinted with permission from Lianhe Zaobao
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2023-10-17 11:34:22
