picture Alliance / dpa/Picture Alliance via Getty I
Israeli soldiers in Sderot, October 12, 2023.
INTERNATIONAL – The offensive is “imminent”. Almost a week after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel, the army of the Jewish state is preparing for massive retaliation in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Ambassador to France Raphaël Morav said this Friday, October 13, on CNews.
Against this background, Israel called on residents of the northern Gaza Strip to flee to the south “for their own safety and protection.” 1.1 million people are affected. For the UN, an evacuation of this magnitude will have “devastating humanitarian consequences.” Hamas, for its part, rejected “the threat posed by the occupying leaders.”
Existing forces, weapons, targets… What might the Israeli offensive in Gaza look like? HuffPost takes stock below.
• How many fighters on each side?
The Israeli army has mobilized 360,000 reservists since the Hamas attacks began, three quarters of its capacity. They are in addition to the approximately 170,000 soldiers deployed. Since last Saturday, these troops have been regrouping with their military equipment near the Gaza Strip.
To date, 35 battalions are gathered at the border, which Israel long considered impassable. But that is exactly what Hamas did to infiltrate the country and carry out massacres at both the kibbutz and the Nova Festival.
As for the number of Hamas fighters, it is much more complicated to know, emphasizes the American press agency AP. The movement’s leaders say there are 40,000, while Israel estimates there are 30,000. The International Institute for Strategic Studies, for its part, estimates that there are between 15,000 and 20,000.
• What are the weapons of Hamas and Israel?
Israel is one of the best-armed nations in the Middle East, giving it a distinct advantage over Hamas. He can also count on the support of the United States, with more than 3,000 billion dollars approved by the American Congress every year, specifies AP.
Its arsenal includes American F-35s, F-15s, F-16s, as well as drones, tanks and armored vehicles. Since last Saturday, Israel has also been showing its power when it comes to missiles. The Air Force claimed to have dropped 6,000 bombs against Hamas in six days, more than the United States dropped on Afghanistan in a year, writes the Washington Post, which interviewed a military adviser to the organization PAX for Peace, Marc Garlasco.
You cannot view this content because:
- By subscribing, you have opted out of cookies related to third-party content. You will therefore not be able to play our videos, which require third-party cookies to function.
- You are using an ad blocker. We recommend you disable it to access our videos.
If neither of these two cases apply to you, contact us at [email protected].
Hamas, for its part, does not have the same budget as Israel, but relies on an “arsenal built up over decades (…) that was made possible and financed by Iran and Syria,” an expert told AFP who wished to remain anonymous. He has assault rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons, long-range precision rifles for his snipers and has used booby traps and suicide bombers in the past.
Another advantage of Hamas: the “Gaza Metro”, a network of tunnels. Hunters stationed up to 30 or 40 meters underground move beyond the attack range. Rocket launcher batteries hidden several meters deep can emerge through a hatch system to fire before disappearing again. Perhaps the hostages captured by Hamas are also hidden here.
• How does the operation work?
“Tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of soldiers will return from the north,” where “the terrorists are concentrated,” Ambassador Raphaël Morav assured this Friday. As the Guardian explains, rural areas are more of an advantage for Israel, which can reach as far as Gaza City with its tanks and bulldozers. Hamas knows this and could position itself on these streets to defend itself.
AFP
Map of the Gaza Strip.
For Israeli soldiers, operations in urban areas, where density is extremely high, become more complicated. Seth Jones, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank, told CBS that the infrastructure will move “not just into the streets, but into homes one by one.” Opposite, he warns, there will be numerous booby traps, suicide bombers and snipers.
You cannot view this content because:
- By subscribing, you have opted out of cookies related to third-party content. You will therefore not be able to play our videos, which require third-party cookies to function.
- You are using an ad blocker. We recommend you disable it to access our videos.
If neither of these two cases apply to you, contact us at [email protected].
The IDF has promised not to attack civilians. “Hamas terrorists are hiding in Gaza City in tunnels under houses and in buildings where innocent people live. Evacuate (…) to escape the Hamas terrorists who are using you as a human shield,” the army demanded. But experts agree: Hundreds, even thousands, of civilians will lose their lives in this war.
• What is the goal for Israel?
The goal for Israel is clear: to wipe out Hamas, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the army have repeatedly stated. For the Guardian, the Israeli operation will be bloodier and larger than the one in 2014 and will likely aim to destroy Hamas’s underground network.
And then ? In the past, the British daily continued, Israel had boasted about eliminating officials and positions important to the organization. And each time he watched the movement reconstitute itself with new leaders and the rebuilding of its famous tunnels.
Should we then consider occupying Gaza, as we did before 2005, to prevent this resurgence? For Amos Yadlin, a former IDF soldier interviewed by The Washington Post, Israel wants to avoid this because it would be both costly and long-term. According to him, the Jewish state will try to transfer the territory to the Palestinian Authority or another Arab entity.
Seth Jones of CSIS disagrees. “I think the most likely option at the moment is the possible occupation of Gaza. Israel does not want a repeat of what it just experienced. It’s a difficult choice. However, no one wants a long-term occupation, especially Israel,” he said on CBS.
In any case, Benjamin Netanyahu has already predicted that the Israelis are “entered in a long and difficult war.”
• And the hostages?
Another objective of this operation is to rescue the 150 hostages, according to the number communicated by Jerusalem. “Israel will handle the hostage crisis at about the same time (as the ground attack), I don’t think they will wait,” Seth Jones said.
However, the above conditions show how difficult this will be. In addition, General Dominique Trinquant expressed himself very pessimistically to France 24. For him, “immediate action means that we must expect that a large number of hostages will probably be sacrificed”.
See also on HuffPost:
You cannot view this content because:
- By subscribing, you have opted out of cookies related to third-party content. You will therefore not be able to play our videos, which require third-party cookies to function.
- You are using an ad blocker. We recommend you disable it to access our videos.
If neither of these two cases apply to you, contact us at [email protected].