Three days after the surprise attack by Hamas, the Israeli army has announced that it has recovered the last six enclaves next to the Gaza Strip that were still in the hands of the rebels, including the city of Sderot, where fighting has taken place street by street and house at home. Following the announcement, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced that he has ordered a “total blockade” of the Strip, meaning that the Palestinian enclave will be without supplies of electricity, food, water and fuel. “Nothing will come in and nothing will come out. We are fighting animals and we will act accordingly.”
The advance of Israeli forces in urban areas, against an entrenched guerrilla group with civilian hostages that they use as human shields, is extremely complex.
The news coming from the front is confusing. This morning Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched several rockets against central Israel that have been intercepted. This has not prevented Israeli elite units from continuing to advance to eliminate pockets of resistance.
Israel has recruited a record 300,000 reservists in its response to the attack and is “going on the offensive,” its chief military spokesman said Monday. “We are carrying out searches in all communities and clearing the area,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari declared at a press conference.
Military officials had previously said their goal was to secure the Israeli side of the border before carrying out any major escalation of the counteroffensive in Gaza.
Hagari said 300,000 reservists have been called up by the army since Saturday, a figure that suggests preparations for a possible invasion, although such plans have not been officially confirmed. “We have never recruited so many reservists on such a scale,” he said. “We’re going on the offensive.”
A couple of hours before the news that there were no longer Hamas guerrillas inside Israel, Lieutenant Colonel Richad Hecht had announced that “we continue fighting.” The tone of his voice denoted the importance and difficulty of the combats. “This morning we thought we would be in a better situation,” he had admitted, much to his chagrin.
In a short time, however, the situation seems to have taken a radical turn and, if confirmed, it will be the first good news for Israel since the start of the Hamas invasion on Saturday morning.
Even so, the fence that separates Gaza from Israel remains broken in several points through which it is possible that Hamas guerrillas continue to enter Israeli territory. It is also because of these gaps that the rebels have taken some 150 hostages, including many women and children, a massive kidnapping that weighs like a weight on every Israeli citizen.
“We are fighting human beasts,” exclaimed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Tel Aviv, the economic and financial engine of this small nation of technological start-ups, has lost the dynamism that characterizes it. Despite it being Monday, the streets are very empty. Schools remain closed, few businesses are open and many people have not gone to the office. They feel safer teleworking from home. The Israeli flag shines on the illuminated screens that, spread throughout the city, usually advertise commercial products. Hospitals are asking for more blood donors.
From afar you can hear the dull explosions of the bombings in Gaza, located 70 kilometers south of Tel Aviv, and of the Israeli anti-aircraft defenses. Helicopters and fighter planes fly over the coast.
The deaths on both sides exceed a thousand, although it is difficult to specify how many people have lost their lives because the intensity of the fighting during the last 36 hours prevents access to many areas where there has been fighting and there have been victims.
Israel recognizes that it has already exceeded the figure of 700 dead, including 73 members of the security forces, and is preparing to reach a thousand given the extreme seriousness of many injured. Gazan sources report almost 500 deaths in the strip, a toll that will also rise as the bombings spread.
The air force has reported the destruction of 500 targets inside Gaza, including nine command centers of Hamas, the Islamist group that rules with an iron fist this Mediterranean mousetrap inhabited by more than two million people, who are victims of terrorism. and the blockade they have suffered for 16 years.
Bombing this densely populated territory from the air, from which Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched more than 2,000 rockets on Saturday morning, is the easiest part of this new war that Israel is forced to wage for its survival. The population barely has shelters to take shelter and air attacks are carried out without prior warning. The UN reports almost 125,000 displaced people. After Israel cut off the power supply, the strip is practically in darkness and will be even more so in the coming days when the only power plant runs out of fuel.
As long as the Israeli army does not eliminate the six pockets of Islamist resistance within its territory, it will not be able to move on to the second phase of the war. Dozens of battle tanks and armored vehicles, as well as tens of thousands of reservists appear ready to enter Gaza, a ground offensive that, as Prime Minister Beniamin Netanyahu has indicated, must serve to put an end to Hamas.
Netanyahu has anticipated “a long and difficult war to destroy Hamas,” the enemy that, with the support of Iran, “has caused 9/11 and Pearl Harbor at the same time,” as a military spokesman acknowledged on Sunday night. .
Israel, a country in which almost every citizen is a soldier, is shocked as the United States was by the Japanese attack on the Pacific fleet in World War II and as it was again on September 11, 2001 with the jihadist attacks. in New York and Washington.
Many Western countries have expressed their solidarity and support for Israel. China and Russia, however, have not done so. They have limited themselves to asking for restraint. Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and other Arab countries would be working to de-escalate the conflict.
The United States is finalizing the delivery to Israel of military material that is kept secret, but that is essential to facilitate the land advance on Gaza. The Gerald Ford carrier battle group will support the Israeli air force from the eastern Mediterranean.
Netanyahu, ultimately responsible for the tragedy that the Israeli people are experiencing and, to a large extent, also responsible for having stifled the viability of a Palestinian state, now has no choice but to annihilate Hamas and impose a new authority in Gaza.
“We have begun the offensive phase, which will continue without pause or limitations until we achieve the objectives,” the prime minister stressed in a statement.
It won’t be easy nor will it be soon.
