Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “blindfolded” to what is in front of him. It would be better for him and his war cabinet to call for a ceasefire and get back to the negotiating table to get his 138 or so remaining hostages that are being held by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
However, he clearly doesn’t want a political deal, having made that abundantly clear with the goal to eliminate Hamas and to free the hostages through Israeli-style combat. But these two goals remain elusive, as he is nowhere near to getting the hostages and is also losing badly in the field against what tantamounts to Palestinian militias facing a highly mechanized Israeli professional army.
Northern Gaza
Ever since, Israel started the ground war on Gaza in the second half of October – and it began from the north, northeast and latter on the east, Israeli soldiers, their tanks and artillery has been to say the least, bogged down in the Gaza Strip. They certainly didn’t expect to meet such tough fighting from the Palestinian resistance dominated by the Hamas Izz Al Din Al Qassam Brigade and Saraya Al Quds, which is also the armed wing of Islamic Jihad.
After weeks of remaining on the periphery, they have in some cases, managed to enter Gaza proper first in the north in Biet Lahia, Al Falouja, Jabalia, Shiekh Radwan, to the north east of Biet Hanoon, and downwards to the east Al Shujayia, Al Zaytoon, Johr Al Diek and encroached Gaza city.
It must be remembered also, especially in the east, these are mainly rural areas with thinly-spread populations, and this is how they managed to get into Gaza city and divide the north from the south, which had been their strategy from the beginning of the war.
This included as well, displacing masses of people from the north to the south.
Figures appear unreliable. At first it was said up to 1.1 million people were displaced, then 1.7 million and later 1.9 million but it turned out to be up to 700,000 remained in their places up north despite the destruction of their homes.
Today, these northern places as well as the places down the east, continue as battlegrounds and tough resistance. They have not been dominated as the Israeli army maintains, judging from the fact that Israeli warplanes keep bombing the different areas while its soldiers getting killed and their tanks and military hardware hit and destroyed by locally-made missiles and drones.
The Israeli army has not yet dominated the north and north east of Gaza as it keeps harping about. Bloody skirmishes continue in both the areas. But this is just one part of the military equation as the Israeli army and air force maybe stretching themselves too far.
Southern Gaza
Now Israeli ground forces are operating on the periphery of Khan Younis, the second largest city in the strip, trying to enter it from the west, through the sea and by parachutes from the air and from the east, alongside the border filled with Israeli settlements and military bases.
In the southeast, just off Khan Younis to the north, there is Beni Suhaila, Muraj, Al Qarara, Al Fukhari, Abbassan, Khuza’a and these have become places of fighting between the Israeli forces and the Palestinian resistances forces. On the face of it, it would seem the Israeli forces are in Gaza, they, together with their troop carriers and other artillery are fighting hard, but don’t be deceived!
Military experts, say despite their maneuvers into the 362-kilometer strip, and the fact they are being helped by the Israeli air force from the top and from the sea by warships, they are yet to dominate the areas they are fighting in with the Palestinian resistance forces. They have greater advantage over them because they know the terrain, different geographical areas and off course the deep underground tunnels that stretch around 500 kilometers and are as big as the London Underground.
Israeli deaths
In the war on Gaza, the Israeli army has been very careful about the number of deaths in their ranks. It was only days into the war, it was forced to admit about the number of soldiers killed, and then again, these published and/or uttered figures were strictly enforced by the Israeli censors.
But then the cat was out of the bag when Hamas fighters started to say how many soldiers they killed on that particular day, how many tanks that were destroyed, and the videos it started showing of battles of its fighters while aiming at Israeli tanks and firing on them in different parts of Gaza.
These videos were daily shown and analyzed by military experts on different Arab satellite channels and quickly picked up by the Israelis themselves, and their different media forms – television, press, social media. They couldn’t stay as “mouth pieces” for the Israeli politicians and military but published figures that later on, they were forced to retract, because they were under military censorship.
The Israeli daily newspaper Yeddioth Ahronoth said there are 5000 Israeli soldiers who were injured in the ground war on Gaza so far. However, the official figures would only admit to just 2000 injured. Deputy Director-General of the Rehabilitation Dept of the Israeli Defense Ministry Limor Luria says they never experienced anything like this with serious injuries being to the hands and feet and these include amputations.
However, she did also point out 12 percent of the injuries included ruptures to the spleen, kidneys and other internal organs.
This is not to say anything about the number of disabilities among the military personnel. Figures by the Israeli Disabled Veterans Association, up till 23 November, 2023, suggests 1,600 Israeli soldiers were left with permanent disabilities and no longer fit for active service. And these figures are likely to increase as the war goes on.
So the war is having its toll on the Israeli military despite the bombs and missiles its hurling down on Gaza civilians which amounted to 40,000 tons of explosives up till late November. The figure today is likely to be higher because of the continual bombing of the southern part of the Gaza Strip including Khan Younis, Dier Al Balah and Rafah with refugee camps such as Nuseirat and Al Maghazi, with Israeli missile strikes on different houses and/or often rows of houses and squares creating large creators of debris with sleeping people dying under the rubble in their thousands.
While Palestinians deaths now stands at over 18000 with 50,000 injured and likely to increase if there is no ceasefire – a fact Israel, once again maybe, interested in, at least temporarily, military analyst for Al Jazeera Dr Fayez Al Dowairi, says no matter how much the Israeli military tries to message the figures, the real numbers can be deduced from the amount of Israeli tanks that were destroyed up till now, 67 days into the war.
Relaying on Hamas figures, which they show in their daily videos, he says the Palestinian resistance have destroyed so far 500 Israeli tanks with an average of 11 personnel that makes around 5000 dead and this excludes the soldiers who die on the ground during to face-to-face fighting with different Palestinian fighters.
However Al Dowairi says this number is nearer to an earlier estimation made on video – mid-October – of the number of Israeli dead standing at 3000 with 11,000 injured and has since hit the social media and the google search engine.
Off course these are far less than the official figures which continue to be parroted every night on television as if it’s a sobering reality by the Israelis and a major achievement for Palestinians and the Arab population.
The Israeli army says 425 of its soldiers were killed since 7 October. Two days later, and as reported by the Times of Israel, it stated the number of those killed stands at 105 since 27 October when the land war restarted again and that 20 of them died through friendly fire.
An End to the Killing
Observers suggest the Biden administration has given Israel a few weeks to wrap up operations with many appear dreading the number of civilian deaths among the Palestinian population. But the US support to the Israelis have given Netanyahu a booster. He simply says the war on Gaza will continue till he eliminates Hamas and establishes an authority of his choosing regardless of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
We wait and see the outcome.
Marwan Asmar is a journalist from Jordan
