"A very nasty operation." Dark clouds over the Gaza
An Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip seems to be inevitable. Joe Biden, who visited Israel this week, stated that the authorities in Jerusalem should delay the operation until a larger number of hostages are released. - The Israeli operation in Gaza will be bloody and very nasty - assesses the military expert in turn.
President Joe Biden, when asked on Friday by a reporter if Israel should delay a potential land invasion of Gaza until a greater number of hostages are released, responded, "yes," according to Reuters. In the president's opinion, the priority now should be the release of hostages.
The American leader also revealed one of the possible reasons why Hamas decided to attack. According to Biden, this issue is related to the relationship with Saudi Arabia.
- One of the reasons they did what they did... why they moved against Israel... was because I was just about to sit down with the Saudis - announced President Biden, clarifying that during these discussions, Riyadh was considering official recognition of the Jewish state.
"The operation can be very bloody"
The decision to start a ground operation seems inevitable. The Prime Minister of Israel was supposed to inform Biden of the intent to carry it out. - We have no choice; we have to enter Gaza - Benjamin Netanyahu is said to have said in one of his first conversations after Hamas attacks.
- The Israeli ground operation in Gaza will be very bloody and very nasty, and high casualty numbers are inevitable - assesses Philip Wasielewski, a former marine infantry officer and analyst for the think tank Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI).
- There's no point in kidding ourselves, it's going to be very bloody and very nasty because of the psychological effect of these terrorist attacks against civilians. This won't be a sterile operation - says the expert.
Israel has two options
As he assesses, Israel has two options before it if it decides to enter Gaza: a punitive expedition or an occupation mission, against which President Biden has publicly warned Israel.
- This first option would involve entering and causing maximum damage to Hamas: trying to kill as many fighters as possible, searching for as many rockets and infrastructure objects, and destroying tunnels. Then, I would expect that they might level everything within a mile or so from the border and turn this area into a buffer zone, a no-go zone - explains the military expert.
- Urban warfare is the hardest type of war, especially in such densely built-up and populated areas. There, the defender usually has the advantage, and in this case, we are dealing with a very fanatical and stubborn defender - emphasizes Wasielewski.
