“There is no complete solution to the pockets of resistance in… Gaza“, and “There is no military solution regarding fate agitation“, two statements that have resonated in recent days, the first by the Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav GalantAnd the other is for the US Secretary of State Anthony BlinkenThey summarize the outcome of the raging Israeli war on the Gaza Strip after 110 days. What Israel considered a pre-decided war with possible goals was not so.
The battles revealed new facts and data in the face of successive Israeli statements and narratives, whether in the numbers of those killed in the occupation army, or what the resistance was keen to broadcast throughout the 110 days of scenes bearing titles that summarized the battle, most notably: Tunnels, Zero Distance, andMerkavaAndTigerAndAl-Yassin 105.
In parallel, the Israeli army is facing widespread criticism from parties in the Israeli government, with it being blamed for failing to prevent the attack of last October 7, and for failing to achieve any of the goals of the war so far.
Two main goals
Since his first speech after the shock of last October 7, when the Palestinian resistance launched Operation “Al-Aqsa flood“, specified the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu There are two main goals of his declared war:
- Wiping out all Hamas presence in the Gaza Strip.
- Release its detainees.
Analysts expand on the Israeli goals of the war, talking about 4, which are:
- Eliminate the leadership of Hamas and end its rule of the Gaza Strip.
- Destroying the infrastructure of the Palestinian resistance.
- Liberating Israeli prisoners.
- The displacement of the population of Gaza to Sinai.
Days passed and Netanyahu’s speeches continued, and after him the members of the war council he formed. The occupation forces also poured out their anger on the Gaza Strip, which has been under siege for more than 17 years. Tens of thousands were martyred and injured, thousands of homes were destroyed, their residents were destroyed, and no mosque, hospital, school or school was spared from the bombing. Other.
Decrease in goals
As the days passed without an Israeli victory, even a partial one, the Israeli goals began to decline, their ceiling dropped clearly, and another goal was announced, which was to change the ruling authority in Gaza and remove Hamas from it.
Recently, the Wall Street Journal quoted a senior Israeli security official as saying, “The Israeli army’s main goal is to destroy Hamas’s leadership structure in Gaza, and once this is achieved, the movement’s members will pose less of a threat and can be defeated as the conflict develops from the stage of violent fighting to a lesser stage.” Sharpness.”
As for the Washington Post, it quoted informed sources confirming that the view of Washington and many Israeli army commanders is that Israel is far from defeating the Hamas movement.
What is strange is that the long talk that Netanyahu repeatedly repeated about “Gaza the day after the war” turned against him. NBC quotes American officials that the administration of President joe biden It is looking beyond Netanyahu to achieve its goals in the region, and it is trying to lay the foundation with other Israeli leaders in preparation for the formation of a post-Netanyahu government.
As for the New York Times newspaper, last Saturday, it quoted Israeli military leaders as confirming that the two goals of the war – which are restoring the prisoners and destroying Hamas – have become impossible to achieve together, stressing that the long-term battle necessary to destroy Hamas will likely cost the lives of the prisoners, and pointing out that their recovery is only possible from Through diplomatic means, not military means.
These Israeli leaders said that the Gaza battles were hampered by Hamas’ infrastructure, which is more advanced than what Israeli intelligence thought, expressing their fear that the prolonged campaign in Gaza without a post-war plan would lead to the erosion of support for the remaining allies.
Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the occupation forces were surprised that the size of the network was approximately 600% larger than they expected.
In clear words, Haaretz newspaper says, “It is difficult to see a clear path to a decisive military victory for Israel.”
Eight features of the Israeli impasse in its war on the Gaza Strip:
First: Failure to achieve the declared goals of the aggression:
The goals of the aggression were to eliminate Hamas, transform Gaza into an Israeli safe zone, liberate Israeli detainees held by Hamas, and displace as many residents of the Gaza Strip as possible. But after more than a hundred days…– Mohsen M Saleh Mohsen Muhammad Saleh (@MohsenMSaleh1) January 20, 2024
Aggression without goals
The Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative points out Mustafa Barghouti Until now, the Israeli aggression has failed to achieve any of its goals, and the war has become an aggression without goals. They failed to recover the prisoners or eliminate the resistance. They also failed to extend their control in the places their tanks entered. They also failed to achieve the central goal of the aggression, which is the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip.
Barghouti added in an interview with Al Jazeera, “Above all, normalization, which was used as an arm and means to liquidate the Palestinian issue, has failed.”
He confirms that Israel has now entered into a deep internal crisis, as it is suffering from human losses that it cannot bear, signs of an economic collapse that it cannot bear as well, and a major moral crisis due to its loss on the international level, especially what we see every day of marches and demonstrations denouncing its war on Gaza.
Resistance steadfastness
In his speech on the 100th day of the war, Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for… Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades -The military wing of the Hamas movement – The occupation has suffered huge losses that exceed the cost of what it incurred on the seventh of last October, and the resistance has put 1,000 Israeli military vehicles out of service.
He confirmed Abu Obeida The Israeli occupation army failed to achieve its goals or free any prisoner held by the resistance.
Here, the military and strategic expert, Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, says that the results of battles are measured by the extent to which their declared military objectives are achieved, which is something that Israel failed in.
He added that the Hamas movement is still organizationally cohesive, and its military capabilities are still intact, and after 100 days of aggression and destruction, the occupation army was unable to rescue any of its detainees except through negotiation, while some of them were killed, whether by bombing or direct targeting.
The military and strategic expert described the Al-Qassam Brigades’ bombardment of the Ashdod area with a barrage of missiles after 100 days of war as a political message to the Israeli government and those behind it, such as Washington and Berlin. In addition, it is an explicit military message that refutes Tel Aviv’s claims of eliminating the capabilities of the resistance, killing thousands of resistance members, and taking operational control of the northern Gaza Strip. .
Over the course of the war, the resistance surprised everyone with the “Al-Yassin 105” missile, which was able to destroy the “Merkava” tank and the “Tiger” armored personnel carriers, which constitute “the pride of the Israeli military industry.”
Al-Duwairi points out that the field reality “invalidates the occupation’s claims.” In the northern region of the Gaza Strip, the occupation claimed that it had achieved goals and destroyed 700 rocket launching bases and killed 9,000 resistance fighters, but the rocket attacks fired by the Qassam Brigades invalidated the Israeli claims.
In the central region of the Gaza Strip, fighting is still intense but has stagnated, and the same is true for the southern region, for which Israel has mobilized 7 initial units.
The military expert does not rule out that the resistance will be able to direct its missiles towards Haifa and Eilat Airport.
After 100 days of war on Gaza Strip #Gaza.. Failure piles up on the shoulders of the Israeli army, amid widespread criticism
| Report: Suhaib Al-Assa #News #Gaza_War pic.twitter.com/3SafqLGUHF– Al Jazeera Channel (@AJArabic) January 14, 2024
Repercussions on the Israeli interior
On the internal level, anger on the Israeli street was not the only factor pressuring Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. The aftershocks of the Gaza war earthquake have followed since the first hours of the seventh of last October, and the crisis in the government coalition square is no longer hidden, and perhaps it is among what will determine the outcome of the war.
The negative repercussions that befell Israel from the battle can be summarized as follows:
- Sharp political division within the ruling elite in Israel, whether the government coalition or the war council; In addition to the lack of harmony between Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and War Council member Benny Gantz, and the blurring of the picture regarding the post-war phase in Gaza, another rift began to widen day after day between the political and military leadership.
- There is a sharp division in internal public opinion into two positions, one of which calls for intensifying strikes against the Gaza Strip, and the other calls for the option of negotiating with Hamas in order to release the prisoners.
- The plan to displace the people of Gaza failed as they cling to their land and refuse to leave it.
- Losing the battle of world public opinion; Millions took to the streets of various countries to demand a ceasefire and hold Israel accountable for its crimes, in a global solidarity movement that transcended religions, races, cultures, and nationalities, and was united by a collective belief in the Palestinian right.
- International support for Israel has declined due to the massacres it is committing in Gaza, and on the other hand, there has been an increase in countries criticizing Israeli policy, such as South Africa, Spain, and Ireland. In fact, the positions of some countries that were historically known for their absolute support of Israel – such as France, for example – have turned to repeatedly demanding a ceasefire.
- For the first time in its history, Israel appears before international justice, represented by… international justice Court In The Hague.
Here, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti says that it is the first time that Israel has taken a position of accountability and accountability, and is forced to defend itself, after it has always been above international law.
Exorbitant tax
But at the same time, it is certain that there is a heavy price paid by the Palestinian resistance and all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the seventh of last October.
The violent war waged by the occupation on the Gaza Strip – so far – has led to the death of more than 25,700 people, and the injury of more than 63,740 others, 70% of whom are women and children.
However, Israeli army estimates indicate that Hamas has not lost its leaders, and that the majority of its fighters are still alive after 110 days of war, says Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
The newspaper reported that army estimates indicate that the number of Al-Qassam Brigades fighters on the eve of the October 7 attack reached about 30,000.
The occupation army claims that it killed 9,000 fighters in the Gaza Strip, including about 50 commanders of the Qassam Brigades.
But the Phalange spokesman Abu Obeida He stressed that the alleged military achievements announced by the enemy during its aggression against Gaza “are ridiculous to us, and the day will come when we prove that these claims are false and defective.”
On the other hand, Abu Ubaida confirmed that the occupation army suffered heavy losses greater than what it incurred last October 7.
The Middle East Eye website previously quoted sources close to the political leadership of the Hamas movement as saying that the Israeli statistics in this regard are “complete nonsense, and that the losses among the ranks of the Qassam Brigades were very small.”
One source told the website that the total losses among the ranks of the Qassam Brigades were less than 10%, explaining that “the Qassam is a military movement with a central structure and a loose organizational circle. We have not heard of the central forces suffering serious losses.”
Richard Weitz, senior military analyst at the Hudson Institute in Washington, believes that “Israel achieved some of its goals during the last campaign, as the number of rockets fired from Gaza decreased.” The occupation army also established a buffer zone along the northern Gaza Strip.
But in return, he also acknowledges that the Palestinian resistance – led by Hamas and…Islamic jihadIt still maintains its fighters, public opinion is moving against Israel, and the risks of escalation from Lebanon still exist.
What is certain is that the new chapter of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has shaken several constants that were thought to be well-established, or beyond all possibilities of change. Starting with the collapse of the legend of the Israeli army in the face of the Palestinian resistance attack on October 7, 2023, and passing through the tons of gunpowder that was thrown on the heads of the people of Gaza amid Western support for Israel, new convictions continued to crystallize in regional and international political circles, stating that the post-war equations will not It remains as it was before.
110 days of war, and Gaza, which is small in area and capabilities, and densely populated, and which has long been described as just a large prison, still refuses to fall before the legions of the Israeli army, which had previously defeated the armies of what were described as the Arab encirclement states combined, and occupied vast areas of their lands. In 6 days.
