Reuters: Hamas turned the streets of Gaza into a deadly maze for Israeli forces News

The death toll of the Israeli occupation army during its current aggression against… Gaza more than doubled its toll during the ground offensive in 2014, reflecting the use of the Islamic Resistance Movement (agitation) to effectively implement street warfare tactics, and diversify its military arsenal.

The movement used a large stock of weapons, in addition to its knowledge of the precise terrain of the Strip, and in addition to the presence of an extensive tunnel network, all of which enabled the movement to transform the streets of Gaza into a deadly maze for the Israeli occupation soldiers.

A Reuters report says that the weapons possessed by Hamas range from drones loaded with bombs to anti-tank weapons with powerful double explosive charges.

Since the start of the Israeli ground campaign in late October, the Israeli occupation army has acknowledged the killing of 124 soldiers, more than half of whom are officers, while in 2014 it acknowledged the killing of only 66 soldiers.

Reuters interviewed an Israeli military commander and military analysts, in addition to a source in the Hamas movement, regarding the ground battles in the Gaza Strip.

Yaakov Amedro, a retired general in the Israeli army and former national security advisor who now works at the US National Security Institute, says that there is no comparison between the war today and the war of 2014, noting that the Israeli army “did not find a good solution for the tunnels” whose network has expanded significantly. During the past decade.

Fierce fighting

The agency reports that the Hamas movement published video clips showing fighters carrying cameras on their bodies and moving through buildings to fire hand-held missiles at Israeli military armor.

She adds that one of these videos, published on December 7, was from the Shujaiya area, east of Gaza City, where both sides of the fighting reported violent clashes.

It quoted a Hamas source from inside Gaza – who requested to remain anonymous – as saying that the fighters “move very close to the enemy forces to carry out ambushes, taking advantage of the land that we know as others do not,” and they often move or appear from tunnels.

For his part, an Israeli commander who participated in 2014 said that expanding the scope of this operation meant there were more forces on the ground, giving Hamas “defender advantages,” so higher casualties among Israeli forces were expected.

Israeli Channel 12 showed an army reserve unit, warning of booby-trapped doors, breaking the wall of a building to enter a room and discover an ammunition store.

The occupation army also posted pictures on social media showing roads that had been bulldozed in built-up areas using bulldozers so that soldiers could avoid existing roads that may contain landmines.

Hamas is strengthening

“Hamas has taken huge steps to strengthen its forces since 2014,” says Eyal Benko, who was a senior official in the Israeli intelligence services and now works at the Bar-Ilan Center for Strategic Studies at Begin-Sadat University.

He pointed out that the movement obtained some advanced weapons, such as Russian-designed Kornet anti-tank missiles, “with help from Iran.”

He added that Hamas has also mastered building other weapons in Gaza, such as rocket-propelled grenade launchers (RPG-7), and the fighters now have a larger ammunition stockpile.

Articles published by Hamas stated that its arsenal includes “Tandem” anti-tank weapons that carry two armor-piercing charges, which was confirmed by Pinko.

But Alexander Greenberg, a former Israeli intelligence officer at the Institute for Strategy and Security in Jerusalem, concluded by saying, “Hamas may adopt new tactics, but in principle, it is still a resistance movement engaged in street warfare.”