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Military expert Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi said that the clashes currently taking place in Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, confirm that Israel’s talk about destroying most of the capabilities of the Al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) - was not true, indicating that the nature of the battles has changed due to changing tactics. Resistance.
He added that the only correct part of the statements of the Israeli army leaders is that Hamas has begun rebuilding its forces, pointing out that the northern part of the Strip (from Street 10 all the way to the fence) includes two brigades consisting of 12 battalions, each of which defends a specific area.
According to Al-Duwairi, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant’s talk about killing 9,000 Hamas fighters out of 14,000 and destroying hundreds of missile platforms contradicts what is happening on the ground.
On the contrary - the military expert adds - Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy’s talk about not eliminating the movement and its ability to rebuild its capabilities, “is the correct part of the army commanders’ statements.”
Rearrange the forces
Al-Duwairi said that Hamas "has actually begun to reorganize the ranks and arrange the areas' defenses," adding: "Currently, the Shuja'iya Brigade is no longer defending Shuja'iya, nor is the Al-Tuffah Battalion defending Al-Tuffah, after the map of responsibilities was redrawn according to the data of the battle."
The military expert believes that the lines of contact between these brigades have been changed in order to manage a new battle that will be different from the previous one.
He attributed this new arrangement to the fact that the resistance found itself faced with specific options after the occupation announced the start of the third phase of the ground operation, which means that it will withdraw either to the fence area or to the Gaza envelope, while bombing operations inside the Strip continue.
He added: "This means that the resistance must deal with expected Israeli attacks on certain places with specific forces, which is a losing equation for the resistance - militarily - because it will continue to receive strikes without launching any attack."
This matter - adds the military expert - prompted the resistance to launch operations that appear to be a valuable target for the occupation, such as giving a signal to open a tunnel or targeting vehicles so that they can lure these forces to enter.
Currently, Al-Duwairi believes that the current operations include defensive positions, ambushes, in-depth operations, and luring into “killing” zones, citing the fact that the scale of losses among the occupation ranks is not consistent with the decline in combat operations.
He concluded by saying that the occupation is currently working in the northern part according to what the resistance is doing and not according to a prior plan because it suffers from a lack of information.
Source: Al Jazeera