With the deployment of Israeli ground forces imminent in the Gaza Strip, the base of the Palestinian armed group Hamas, there has been speculation that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will attempt a tactic of precise attacks on Hamas fighters rather than large-scale artillery warfare in order to minimize civilian casualties. Israel is expected to reflect US President Joe Biden’s order that ‘Hamas and Palestine must be responded to separately’ in its ground war operations in some way. However, Hamas is expected to wage a guerrilla war using the ‘hostage shield’ strategy, taking advantage of the geographical characteristics of the Gaza Strip, which has the highest population density in the world, raising questions about whether precision strike tactics will be effective.
American military experts believe that in the event of a ground battle in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military will minimize artillery fire using advanced armored weapons such as tanks and armored vehicles and engage in small-scale ‘block-to-block’ battles. This is because mass casualties of civilians are inevitable in the method of destroying a specific building or area with large-scale artillery fire and then deploying infantry.
According to the Washington Post (WP), former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Affairs Mick Mulroy said, “The Israeli military must first use infantry to neutralize Hamas’ tunnels that extend extensively through several buildings and underground facilities in the Gaza Strip.” Soldiers, we will have to fight block by block,” he said. This means that the battle will proceed in a way that the infantry will continue to engage in small-scale battles, taking over buildings and streets one by one.
Former Assistant Secretary Malloy also said, “Israeli special forces can focus on eliminating the Hamas leadership through precision attacks.” If all Hamas members are targeted at once, the front line will become too wide and the attack target could be compressed to the leadership in the early stages of a ground battle. Former Deputy Deputy Secretary Malloy also predicted, “Israel could conduct a parallel operation to narrow the range of activity of Hamas members by attacking the eastern part of the Gaza Strip and taking control first.”
The reason the IDF is considering this tactic is because there are several obstacles to attacking the Gaza Strip. The extremely high population density makes it difficult to distinguish between civilians and combatants, and the tunnels that Hamas has dug underground, as dense as a spider’s web, are also factors that make attacks difficult.
There are many skeptical views on whether Israel’s precision attack will be successful. First of all, it is difficult to determine the location of Hamas. Retired General Frank McKenzie, who until last year served as commander of the U.S. Central Command, which oversaw all U.S. forces in the Middle East, told the U.S. diplomatic magazine Foreign Policy (FP), “Because Hamas uses tunnels, it will be difficult for the Israeli military to identify where they are attacking.” “There is a high possibility that the battle will take place in a narrow and close space like a booth.”
The Israeli think tank Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) reported that when the Israeli military deployed ground troops to the Gaza Strip in 2014, Hamas used tunnels in various ways to transport members and weapons, as well as detonating explosives against Israeli troops and kidnapping soldiers. evaluated as having done so.
There is a high possibility that Israeli infantrymen will fall into a trap set by Hamas during the infiltration or withdrawal process. FP explained, “Israeli forces are likely to face a ‘kill zone’ containing landmines (planted by Hamas), drones, etc.” Even in the process of removing troops who fought the ground battle to a safe zone, they may be attacked by remaining Hamas members.
Another problem is that there are still a large number of civilians, including hostages, remaining in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military notified approximately 1.1 million northern residents to evacuate for three consecutive days, but escape routes were extremely congested and many residents gave up on evacuation. The British Financial Times (FP) analyzed, “Like the Islamic State (IS), Hamas can use women and children as human shields and use the tactic of hiding among them.”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.