Region | Palestinian Territories
Israel aims to control key areas in Gaza, officials say
Israel is engaged in one of the country's biggest war offensives in recent decades. The intention is to split off northern towns of Gaza from the south.
- By Tobias Buck, Financial Times
- Published: 23:35 January 5, 2009
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London: Israel is engaged in one of the country's biggest war offensives in recent decades. What started with a massive aerial bombardment of Hamas targets inside the Gaza Strip eight days ago has escalated into an equally overwhelming invasion as Israel continues to pour troops and tanks into the strip.
According to government and military officials, the purpose of the latest offensive is two-fold: to deal a severe blow to the Islamists' military and political infrastructure, and take control of key areas inside the Gaza Strip that are used by Hamas and other fighters to fire rockets on nearby Israeli cities. This means attacking - and holding, towns such as Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, from where at least 220 rockets have been fired on Israel in the past week alone.
Israel's invasion towards Rafah in the south suggest the army may also be keen to take control of the border area with Egypt - Hamas's principal conduit for the smuggling of weapons and longer-range rockets. The third notable movement by Israeli troops yesterday was designed to split off Gaza City and the northern towns from the south, making it harder for Hamas to reinforce its positions in the main battle zone.
Defenceless
A senior Israeli military official said yesterday that the operation was not aimed at putting a complete end to rocket attacks, "but decreasing the number substantially". Suggesting a prolonged campaign, he added that the invasion was "not something measured in days or hours" and that there were "a lot of obstacles on the ground and underground", in a reference to the network of tunnels that Hamas fighters have reportedly dug to defend the strip from Israeli attack.
Many of the claims made by Hamas and Israel are difficult to verify, due to reporting restrictions on the ground and the lack of media access to Gaza. What is beyond doubt, however, is that the Israel Defence Forces have crossed into the territory safe in the knowledge that they enjoy military superiority.
Most importantly, Hamas is essentially defenceless against attacks from the air. The group's fighters are not equipped with surface-to-air missiles and their rockets are incapable of hitting targets with any degree of accuracy. This also means that Israel's state-of-the-art tanks and well-trained infantry can rely on air support from attack helicopters and warplanes as they fight their way into the strip.
What can Hamas do in response? The group's military capabilities have been the source of much speculation but it is clear that the group's equipment, training and overall fighting ability is far inferior to that of Lebanon's Hezbollah which offered fierce and effective resistance to Israeli troops two years ago.
Hamas itself recently boasted that it had 20,000 men under arms, though Israeli military experts believe that at most a few thousand of them would be in a position to engage in combat with Israeli soldiers. Indeed, one Israeli military source said yesterday that there had been little face-to-face fighting so far.
Initial shock
Hamas's military arm does have some advantages, however. It has had ample time to prepare for the Israeli assault, which is likely to encounter a large number of booby-trapped houses and tunnels. The Hamas gunmen are also fighting in a heavily built-up urban area that they know well, and can rely on the support of at least parts of the local population. Finally, many of the group's fighters - most notably an unknown number of suicide bombers, will enter combat with no expectation of returning home alive.
For the time being, Hamas and other armed groups in the strip appear to be focused on absorbing the initial shock of the Israeli onslaught. This could soon change, especially if Israel decides to hold on to parts of Gaza for weeks and more. At the very least, a prolonged presence in the strip would expose soldiers to hit-and-run attacks by Palestinian gunmen as well as to further mortar attacks.
As Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, made clear on Saturday night, the fighting "won't be easy and it won't be short".
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