Despite the continuing war on Gaza by Israel, seen as genocide and ethnic cleansing and which began shortly after 7 October, the Israeli army today, and despite all attempts at camouflage, is having a hard time in this torn and weary Palestinian territory.
While its air superiority is unmatched, simply because the Izz Al Din Al Qassam Brigade is a non-conventional army and doesn’t have any planes, their fighting power on the ground, is formidable, and tersely recognized so by the Israelis as each day passes. This is proving the deadliest war for both the Palestinian and Israeli sides after two months of killing and bombardment.
Take the last attempt to free one of the Israeli soldiers long held in Hamas captivity. It went completely wrong with the 24-year-old soldier in question, Sa’ar Barouch, getting killed after a clash between so-called Israeli elite soldiers and Hamas fighters.
Clash for Barouch
The clash was so strong that some of these soldiers including Barouch, were killed whilst others had to withdrew under intense fire. It is not known how many were killed and injured in the attack that was made in the early hours of the morning, Friday, according to a video posted by Izz Al Din Al Qassam.
The Israeli rescue attempt is being criticized internationally because the Israeli soldiers used a Red Cross ambulance as camouflage to get to the place where he was being held captive. The Hamas fighters quickly got to know of the attempt and a major clash with the Israeli soldiers ensued.
The incident is proving to be yet another embarrassment for the Israeli army’s crack elite and another losing game with Hamas fighters. Although, the Israeli army insisted they start a ground war in Gaza – and inroad different parts of the Strip – they are losing much soldiers and military hardware by way of tanks, carriers and artillery with official figures given by the Israeli army failing to match what is happening on the ground.
This last attempt – purportedly the second to release a hostage – the first made in late October and the army said it freed a female soldier but which turned out to be bogus and made for propaganda purposes – adds to the woes of the Israeli army which up till now has been seen as unmatched in the region and internationally.
The soldiers taking part in the attempted rescue operation had to call in Israeli warplanes from above who had already dominated the Gazan skies for the last two months, to be able to withdraw from engagement with the Izz Al Din fighters. Yet they lost men in the risky and daring operation.
Military analysts this has been a disastrous attempt by the war-weary Israeli soldiers whose political masters like Benjamin Netanyahu et al, insist that the military can free the 140-or so Israeli captives through their own military power after they broke off the temporary ceasefire with Hamas in late November. Then and via Qatar and Egypt, Hamas had begun freeing civilian hostages it took back to Gaza – they numbered then 240-or so captives – after dramatically invading Israel on 7 October. The process seemed to be going well with 105 released until it was abruptly stopped.
However, many Israelis including relatives of those held in captivity don’t believe that military action is the way to get them back and Hamas has already said such bombardment has already killed 60 war prisoners kept in captivity.
Differences
Despite this, Netanyahu and the dominant members of the war cabinet believe that the only way to get the rest of the hostages out is more intense bombardment with 40,000 tons of explosives already dropped on homes, houses and areas in different parts of the Gaza Strip. The figure is likely to be much higher now as the Israeli army focuses its bombings on the south of the Strip.
However, in their meeting with the war cabinet, the families of the hostages stormed out because they believed such a bombing wouldn’t work and result in the death of their relatives held by Hamas forces. However, they are not letting the war cabinet off that easy and are continually protesting including outside Israel’s Ministry of Defense and the residence of its Minister Yoav Gallant who is listening but appear not implementing because he and the rest of the war cabinet say they wouldn’t meet the demands of Hamas including the release of all the Palestinian prisoners – now at 7000 or so – kept by Israel.
And the Baruch killing, whose body is now being held by Hamas which it will use as a further bargaining chip, is proving that the government strategy is wrong and will lead to the deaths of the other hostages. Each day, they become more edgy and nervous with their belief that the Israeli government is only interested in ending the presence of Hamas in the Gaza Strip rather than getting the hostages back home.
Just last week, it was revealed that they are working on a dangerous strategy to pump the Hamas tunnels with water from the Mediterranean as a way to flushing out their operatives. For the relatives, this is further evidence the Israeli government doesn’t care about the hostages which their relatives believe are being held in.
But such a strategy is also being seen as “blindfolded” and shows Israel has no practical solutions but keep on bombing civilians whose deaths is today marked at just under 18,000 not to say anything of the more than 46,000 injured. Flooding, the tunnels is not easy also because Israel doesn’t know where most of them are and the fact that they are estimated to be as big as the London Underground at around 500 kilometers.
So as ideas and bombardment of Gaza continues, the search for the other captives remain elusive. However, the Israeli government appears to be maintaining a one-track mind of more bombing and misery despite the fact it’s coming under increasing pressure to make a deal with Hamas not least of all from the relatives.
Marwan Asmar, who has a Phd from Leeds University, is a Jordan based writer.
