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congratulations, Israelis.
but it does seem like Hamas is ready for peacetalks.
your comparisons are grossly exaggerated.Oh yes, right, sure it is.
Just as I'm sure Japan was ready for "peacetalks" on 8 December 1941. And the moment Hitler took Warsaw, he wanted "peacetalks".
Wow, literally one of the absolutely dumbest things I have ever read in here.
Oh, and are you even aware of how pointless that would even be? Of course, if you had ever actually read the Hamas Covenant, you might be aware of that. Are you even aware that such a thing even exists?
Grim prospects if Israel launches ground assault on Gaza
Didier LAURAS
Tue, October 10, 2023 at 5:47 AM GMT+2·4 min read
5.1k
Hamas has been digging underground pathways to get around territory it controls (SAID KHATIB)
Israel appears likely to stage a ground assault on Gaza in response to deadly weekend attacks by Hamas, risking close-quarters fighting in densely populated areas, including in underground tunnels and around hostages.
Israel's government on Monday said it would "immediately cut (its) water supply to Gaza" as part of a "complete siege" on the Hamas-controlled territory.
Next, "Israel will launch the largest joint (air/sea/land/space) operation against Gaza in history," John Spencer, an expert at the Modern War Institute at US military academy West Point, predicted on X, formerly Twitter.
Alexander Grinberg, of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said that "strikes will first of all target Hamas command centres and troops, with fire coming from everywhere".
"At the same time, the army will prepare to enter Gaza," he said.
Such urban fighting will force combatants into hand-to-hand combat, reduce visibility, increase the risk of traps, blur boundaries between civilians and soldiers and render armoured vehicles next to useless.
- 'Inherent risks' -
City fighting is "a 360-degree battlefield as the threats can be all around you," said Andrew Galer, a former British army officer, now an analyst at private intelligence firm Janes.
Going house-to-house to secure potentially booby-trapped buildings means bringing in bomb disposal experts with cumbersome gear like ladders, ropes and explosives -- "possibly all while taking fire" and in the dark, he added.
And there are "inherent risks" of friendly fire given "the difficulties of situational awareness", Galer said.
"Using artillery can make the situation worse, as while it may kill some defenders, the rubble then provides them with cover".
- 'Gaza Metro' -
Gaza's roughly 2.3 million Palestinian inhabitants have been living under an Israeli blockade since 2007.
Its overcrowded, narrow web of streets is doubled underground by a dense tunnel network known to Israeli troops as the "Gaza Metro".
Gaza's 14-kilometre (nine-mile) border with Egypt was once burrowed under with hundreds of tunnels used to smuggle fighters, weapons and other contraband -- although many have now been destroyed.
But since 2014, Hamas has been digging underground pathways to get around territory it controls.
Some tunnels are as deep as 30 or 40 metres (100-130 feet) below ground, allowing militants to change position away from the danger of strikes.
Rocket batteries hidden just a few metres beneath the surface can be uncovered with a trapdoor just for the time it takes to fire a salvo.
Israel's army and intelligence are certain to know about a portion of the network, and bombarded it heavily in 2021.
But other parts remain secret and will make any Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ground operation in Gaza more difficult.
- 'Long, difficult, many losses' -
Hamas "knows its tunnels by heart," said Colin Clarke, research director at the New York-based Soufan Center think-tank.
"Some are probably booby-trapped. Preparing to fight in such terrain... would require extensive intelligence... which the Israelis may not have," he added.
Underground fighting would hand a major tactical advantage to the Hamas defenders and their leadership.
"Everyone knows it will be long and difficult, with many losses," Grinberg said, although technology such as robots could work in the assaulting forces' favour.
On the other hand, Hamas' tunnel advantage "could also turn out to be a trap," he added.
"When tunnels are found, they can be closed off to shut in the people inside. In this case, the order is likely to be for no quarter" to be given.
- 'Bring the hostages back' -
The dozens of civilian hostages Hamas seized at the weekend present another complication for the IDF.
"Israeli society wouldn't forgive it if the hostages' lives are not a priority," said Sylvaine Bulle, a sociologist studying Israel at France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).
Citizens' attitude would be "you have failed to ensure our security, bring us the hostages back," she predicted -- leading to "conflicts... between politicians and the military".
The government is unable to negotiate for now, said Kobi Michael, a researcher at the Tel Aviv-based INSS think-tank.
"With all the sorrow, with all the pain... the hostage issue cannot be the first priority," he said.
"Israel will reach to the hostage issue only with the upper hand and when Hamas will be defeated and weak, not a second before," Michael added.
A Qatar-based Hamas official told AFP Monday there was "currently no chance for negotiation on the issue of prisoners or anything else".
dla/tgb/sjw/gw/lb
feel free to have your war with Hamas.
As I said, have you ever even read the Hamas Covenant? Or are you even aware that they just staged a series of attacks, including at a music festival? That over 300 were killed, over 1,000 injured, and over 200 were taken as hostages?
It is stupid and insulting that just days after that you would even bring up that they are about to surrender.
Israel and Hamas are now in a war, and it is one started entirely by Hamas itself. And most of the world will watch and cheer, as they have become sickened by the decades of attacks.
Yet here you are, trying to portray them as innocent angels apparently that have done nothing wrong. But I will say that people disgust me who pretend to be for "peace", and completely ignore absolute atrocities and believe nothing should be done in retaliation. You probably also think the world would have stayed out of WWII, as it was obviously Germany responding to an attack.
an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
Oh, you want to quote the Bible now, eh?
He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.
Sorry, but to me the time of "short reprisals" is long since past, like the NSDAP before they should be eliminated. Root, leaf, and stem.
Interesting seeing you attempting to defend a group that kills tens of thousands and is now kidnapping children and other civilians.
And I will close with this:
ah come on. Israel is already clearly exacting a disproportionate "response" to Hamas' attacks.
Hamas terrorists slaughtered at least 40 babies and young children — decapitating some of them — at a kibbutz near the Gaza border, shaken Israeli officials and reporters at the scene said Tuesday.
“It’s hard to even explain exactly just the mass casualties that happened right here,” visibly distraught i24 News correspondent Nicole Zedek said during a broadcast from Kibbutz Kfar Aza near Sderot about a quarter-mile from the Gaza Strip.
nypost.com
please don't misunderstand or go twisting my words.Right, sure.
Hamas kills 40 babies and children — beheading some of them — at Israeli kibbutz: report
“It’s hard to even explain exactly, just the mass casualties that happened right here,” visibly shaken i24 News correspondent Nicole Zedek said during a broadcast from Kibbutz Kfar Aza …
Thousands dead, children purposefully killed, hundreds taken hostage.
And here you are, apparently defending terrorists. Got it, you have no problem if innocents are killed, so long as they are apparently a group you do not like.
We need to double the number of 4 Star generals from 44 to 88!John Bolton, is that you?
please don't misunderstand or go twisting my words.
i fully agree with Rubin and the Israeli leadership. Hamas and by extension the Palestinian people deserve what they're currently getting.
how about we divide Israel and Palestine like North and South Korea? with a DMZ and all that?
Ukraine is never in play as a military objective. It's a place to ship outdated junk ammunition rather than dumping it in the ocean and to throw money at to create a political issue. The USS Gerald Ford just arrived in the Mid-East and has a destructive potential greater than both sides together in WW2 and that's only one Carrier. In the event of a nuclear war there is no spread and all bets are off.if even "Taiwan" and the development of nuclear weapons in Iran happen at the same time, with Ukraine still in play, we'd be spread too thin. All of NATO, AUKUS, and the EU.
no
i'm just a Dutch civilian volunteer diplomat who understands 'peace through strength' and what it means in the present day and near future, lol
16.000 soldiers
70 main battle tanks
