Israel: “We will enter Gaza City within the next 48 hours”

Israel is preparing to enter Gaza City, where the country’s armed forces believe they will besiege it for the next 48 hours and fighting will begin within it as Operation Iron Swords moves into its next phase.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz presents the army’s plan as described by representatives of the armed forces. The Israeli army estimates that Israeli forces will completely encircle Gaza City within 48 hours and fighting will begin inside the city.

They say that the aim of the operation is to reach Hamas activists in the city and destroy the tunnels and military and civilian government agencies affiliated with Hamas.

The Israeli military believes it is possible to achieve the government’s goal of destroying Hamas, but it will take a long time. From a few months to a year or more.

However, as they point out, in order to cleanse the region of “terrorists”, it is necessary to act comprehensively and relatively slowly.

The IDF also stated that at this point, Israeli forces would avoid entering the tunnels, considering them surrounded. Therefore, each tunnel will be handled from the outside by special forces, so as not to expose the soldiers to immediate danger and allow them to be dealt with at a later stage.

In some cases, if intelligence indicated it was appropriate, the Air Force would strike the tunnels from the air, neutralizing anyone inside.

It is not ruled out that surgery will be performed at Al-Shifa Hospital

At this point, the IDF has not ordered forces to begin operations at Al-Shifa Hospital, where intelligence estimates indicate that many senior Hamas officials are hiding.

Senior officials in the Israeli army addressed this issue and did not rule out conducting a military operation in the hospital, if the opportunity arose.

An Israeli source familiar with the situation said Eye of the Middle East The first of the two objectives of the initial phase of the ground operation has been achieved. This consisted of establishing isolation zones in areas where the risk of attack was low, as well as establishing bases to support further operations.

He added that the second phase of the ground attack would be to connect Israeli control points, impose a complete siege on Gaza City, and slowly expand the territory controlled by Israel.

Operationally, the army is advancing on three lines according to plan, and has been dealing with terrorist attacks so far. The Israeli source said that the convergence of two of these lines is sufficient to besiege terrorist targets in a specific area, allowing the operation to move towards more precise targeting.

Lessons from the past

Turkish security sources who closely follow the war in Gaza said that it appears that Israel has learned a lot from previous ground attacks in the Strip and that it is now following a road map that was planned more carefully.

A Turkish source told Middle East Eye, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on communication with Israel: “The Israeli ‘Iron Sword’ operation looks like a copy of the 2009 and 2014 operations, but they are avoiding repeating the mistakes they made in the past.” the press.

The source added that Israel is moving slowly to avoid serious problems, which suggests a certain tactical pattern.

In Operation Hard Pen in 2009, 13 Israeli soldiers were killed during an army incursion into densely populated areas. Likewise, in Operation Protective Edge in 2014, 66 Israeli soldiers were killed during operations in residential areas.

According to the Turkish source, Israel was not prepared for such an operation and has so far only advanced into the open areas and surrounding urban towns.

“A recurring pattern of avoiding mistakes has emerged. Perhaps the Palestinians have realized this as well.”

He added, “The Israeli army enters the area, identifies enemy firing locations and targets, and withdraws quickly. Then air strikes follow, then armor and infantry advance. This model will not succeed as they move toward the cities.”

The last time Israel carried out a ground attack on Gaza was in 2014, which was known as Operation Protective Edge and lasted three weeks.