The war between Hamas and Israel is now in its third week. Thousands of Palestinians have already fled south, after Israel began retaliating against Hamas’ attacks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been clear: Hamas must be crushed. Family members mourn the loss of relatives after attacks on al-Aqsa hospital in the Gaza Strip. Photo: Hatem Moussa / AP But after the terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, Israel has not yet carried out the long-announced ground invasion. – There are probably several reasons for that, says chief of defense Eirik Kristoffersen. – Harbinger of loss The head of the Norwegian defense cites the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza as one factor. According to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), 212 people have been abducted to the Gaza Strip. Chief of Defense Eirik Kristoffersen says there is strong internal pressure in Israel to prevent the Hamas attack on 7 October. Photo: Milana Knezevic / news – So the question is what Israel wants to achieve with the ground invasion. They have said that Hamas must be crushed, but what does that mean? Is it to destroy the tunnel system they have, or to occupy Gaza until they have cleaned up, asks Kristoffersen on news Helgemorgen on Sunday. He refers to similar warfare carried out in urban areas in Ukraine. – In Mariupol it was very brutal when Russian forces entered there. In the Gaza Strip, it is a challenging military operation to enter, because Hamas operates together with the civilian population. For Israel, every rooftop, corner, basement and quarter will be a threat that must be secured, says Kristoffersen. Israeli soldiers near the border with Gaza on 11 October. Photo: JACK GUEZ / AFP Israel is considered to have greater military capacity than Hamas, and large losses are therefore expected on the Palestinian side in the event of an invasion from Israel. – But Israel knows that an urban war will lead to losses among its own soldiers. They are prepared for that, otherwise you don’t get into such a ground war, says Kristoffersen. Asking people to evacuate Palestinians in Gaza say they have received new warnings from Israel on Sunday, stating that they may be considered supporters of a terrorist group if they do not travel south, writes Reuters. The messages must have come in the form of leaflets marked with the Israeli Defense Forces’ name and logo. Palestinians in a food queue this weekend in the town of Khan Yonis in the south of the Gaza Strip. Photo: MOHAMMED SALEM / Reuters They will also be sent as audio messages on people’s mobile phones, residents of the Gaza Strip told the news agency. In the first reports about the flyer, it was claimed that the citizens who were found could be identified as complicit in a terrorist organisation, according to Reuters. On X/Twitter, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) claims that this is an imprecise transaction. – To clarify, the IDF has no intention of viewing the remaining inhabitants as members of a terrorist organisation. We urge civilians in Gaza to evacuate south of Wadi Gaza. Anyone who sees themselves in danger from Hamas’ acts of terror in civilian areas, writes the IDF. Increase capacity Tensions are high beyond the Israeli and Palestinian areas. From Lebanon in the north, the militia Hezbollah fires at Israeli forces. In Syria, two civilians were killed on Sunday, after Israeli attacks on the airports in Aleppo and the capital Damascus. Israel will now evacuate a further 14 local communities bordering Syria and Lebanon. Father and son take part in support for Palestine in the Syrian province of Idlib earlier this week. Photo: OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP The meetings have increased fears of a major war in the region in the wake of the war on the Gaza Strip. This week, the United States moved the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, closer to Israel in the Mediterranean. Britain has also moved naval defense resources to show support after the attack by Hamas on 7 October. On Sunday, US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin announced that more soldiers and air defense systems will be sent to the Middle East. So far, the US has already sent ships with 2,000 marines to the area. With the escalation in and around Gaza, there is a risk that the conflict will escalate elsewhere. – In Lebanon, Hezbollah has fueled the regional conflict for many years. Their power potential lies in the fact that the conflict now continues. So purely logically, it is not conceivable that Hezbollah will drag southern Lebanon into war with Israel. But the fear in the region means that it can happen, says Chief of Defense Eirik Kristoffersen. The participants at the summit in Cairo this weekend came together to discuss solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Photo: UAE PRESIDENTIAL COURT / Reuters This weekend there was a summit in Cairo, where heads of state and government discussed solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the end, the participants had little to show other than visible contradictions, write the New York Times. – We must never rule out that it is possible to find solutions other than a ground invasion. But in Israel there is a strong pressure and desire to prevent the terrorist attacks that started on 7 October. The stated aim is to crush Hamas, says Kristoffersen.
ttn-69
Expect high Israeli death toll from ground invasion – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
