The Israeli Air Force has announced the destruction of 1,100 targets in Gaza. The intensity of the bombing in just four days of war is unprecedented, as is the mobilization of reservists. There are already 360,000. Never before had so many people been called to the ranks in such a short time. In a country of 9.3 million inhabitants, this means that every family has a child, a relative or an acquaintance called to fight against Hamas in Gaza.
The Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, visited the soldiers deployed near the strip yesterday afternoon. He harangued them with words of encouragement and the news they were waiting for: “With the sector (around Gaza) under control, we are moving on to an offensive without quarter. Hamas wanted a change in Gaza and you will have the honor of annihilating it.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to crush the Islamist movement and is preparing the army for a ground invasion.
The hybrid war, launched with the latest and most advanced technology, capable of monitoring everything, of attacking any computer network and any communications system, has not prevented the worst attack against Israel in the last 50 years.
Hamas has demonstrated the value of conventional weapons and open offensives, and the Israeli Government has had no choice but to resort to troops and tanks, to aviation and artillery, to the weapons with which it has always defended itself and it has always prevailed over the enemy.
Hostages don’t seem to be a priority right now. Hamas threatens to assassinate one every time Israel attacks without warning. The Israeli authorities fear, moreover, that the 150 hostages are, in reality, 200. The bombings, however, have not stopped at any time.
There is no rest for the two million inhabitants of Gaza. The Israeli army advises them to get out while they can, but it is clear that they cannot flee anywhere. Egypt has closed the border and the enclave is a prison open to the sky and a rain of fire.
Blood flows and the death toll rises. The Palestinians have counted 830, and the Israelis fear that theirs will soon be more than 1,200.
The United States, as President Biden confirmed last night, will give Israel all the support it needs. Most urgent is ammunition and money to make the Iron Dome interceptors that shoot down Hamas rockets. Ships and fighter jets are also welcome.
Hamas, for its part, does not loosen the rope. Dozens of rockets continue to fall on Israel. Sirens sounded yesterday in many cities, especially in Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv and Ashkelon.
Terrorizing the enemy is an essential part of psychological warfare, and Hamas has succeeded in scaring most Israelis.
Netanyahu should calm them down, but he can’t. Monday night he spoke on television. It was his first appearance since the start of the war on Saturday morning. He assured that “Hamas will pay an unprecedented price”.
I couldn’t say anything else. He is most responsible for the collapse of the military defense and is against the sword and the wall. If he wants to save his political career he needs to destroy Hamas.
In the last year, he has allowed the most radical ministers of his government to inflame the conflict with the Palestinians and has given Hamas the justification it wants most: to defend Jerusalem, to preserve the holy places on the esplanade of the Mosques.
These radicals, supremacist ministers such as Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, are today well hidden. They haven’t said anything since the war started.
Public opinion supports the formation of a Government of national unity. Netanyahu met last night with Benny Gantz, one of his main detractors, to try. However, this general, who had promised never to serve him, has said that he will only enter if he can decide. Netanyahu has answered him not to make conditions with the country at war.
But the political struggle, and more so in Israel, has always been a war.
