The Israeli army is immersed in the quagmire of the Gaza war (Israeli press)
The American newspaper "New York Times" quoted the commander of the Israeli "Nahal" Brigade as saying that "Israel did not completely defeat the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the northern Gaza Strip, and that it must do more there." It also quoted Israeli security officials as saying that the Prime Minister's goal was Benjamin Netanyahu's destruction of the movement is still a long way off.
The commander of the Nahal Brigade considered that the return of the Israeli army to fighting in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital, west of Gaza City, to fight the militants who had regrouped, is evidence of the difficulty of eliminating Hamas.
Current and former Israeli officials said that Israeli forces will likely continue to invade northern Gaza to quell the Hamas insurgency for the foreseeable future, at least until some kind of post-war political settlement for Gaza is reached.
According to an Israeli military intelligence officer, at least 5,000 fighters from the Al-Qassam Brigades are still present in the northern Gaza Strip.
A number of Israeli leaders stressed to the newspaper that this force is enormous and will be able to attack ground forces and fire missiles at Israel.
Thousands of fighters
The newspaper quoted Israeli security officials as confirming that thousands of Hamas fighters attached to the remaining brigades in Rafah and Deir al-Balah are still working above and below the ground.
The New York Times quoted Israeli analysts as saying that in recent rounds of fighting, Hamas has avoided direct confrontations, which Israel considers a sign of weakness, but Western officials said that “Hamas’s decision not to engage in direct confrontations has a strategy behind it, which is represented in its belief that the survival of a large amount of its military strength in the war will represent a victory.” ".
The newspaper confirmed that Israeli security officials believe that Netanyahu's goal of destroying Hamas is still far-fetched.
She added that American officials also believe that Israel will not be able to achieve its goal in the foreseeable future, which is to eliminate the military capacity of Hamas.
Israel is waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, leaving tens of thousands of victims, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and a noticeable deterioration in infrastructure and property, according to Palestinian and UN data, which led to Israel appearing before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing “genocide.”
Source: Al Jazeera + New York Times