Ground War In Gaza (Gaza War Part IV)

The Gaza Strip is ultimately not a very big place. It is about twice as wide and twice as long as Manhattan and is similarly densely populated. It is smaller geographically than most U.S. counties; it is smaller than three U.S. survey townships and the military conflict is concentrated in a northern 1/3 to 1/2 of the Gaza strip. "Deep incursions" into Gaza can mean a dozen miles or less. 

There has been talk of a ground war campaign lasting for months, although it isn't clear why it would take so long. 

Israel has up to 600,000 troops at its disposal (half, activated reservists), and a full range of modern military systems. The Israelis can call in air strikes with guided munitions at will on short notice.

Hamas had something more like 6,000 armed men before it launched its raid on Israel, some of whom are no doubt already dead or seriously wounded. Hamas has essentially no armored vehicles and no naval forces of any kind. Its soldiers use unarmored civilian motor vehicles and motorcycles, with dwindling fuel supplies. They are armed mostly with small arms, as well as a modest number of drones as its air force, and infantry or civilian truck carried missiles, and IEDs, as its most potent weapons. Hamas can draw blood from Israeli Defense Force troops as they move in and kill the hostages it holds, but ultimately,  Hamas is totally outmatched militarily.

Hamas is boxed in by the Gaza border fence and an Israeli navy patrolled sea. They have no place to run. It does have an extensive tunnel and underground bunker system within Gaza City, although the Israelis know where at least some of the tunnels and bunkers are located. 

Hamas has no access to new military supplies. It probably didn't have all that expansive reserves of ammunition and rockets before this latest conflict began. 

Much of the city, especially in places Hamas was believed to use, has been reduced to rubble. The electrical grid of Gaza City is without power, and new shipments of food, fuel, water, and medicine to the Gaza Strip are minimal. Hamas accidentally bombed and largely destroyed one of the main hospitals in Gaza.

A handful of Hamas hostages have been released, a small number of died, a few are known to be alive and have been shown on video clips, and most of perhaps a hundred or a hundred and fifty hostages, are unaccounted for. Recovering hostages is probably the IDFs first priority.

Hezbollah militias in Lebanon, supported by Iran, on Israel's Northern border, have tried to fire rockets at Israel and raid it, but mostly ineffectually. Iran has made great noise about Israel's actions in diplomatic circles, but Hamas in Gaza has no one taking military action to support it. 

The main focus of diplomatic efforts has been on providing humanitarian aid to Gazan civilians via its border with Egypt, only a trickle of which has occurred. Gazan refugees are apparently not welcome in Egypt.

One of the biggest problems for Israel and civilian Gazans, is that with a death warrant effectively issued by Israel for anyone remotely senior in the Hamas led government or organization, there is really no one in a position for Israel to enter into diplomacy with in Gaza. For example, no one is in a position to deliver an unconditional surrender to Israel that had any meaningful effect, even if this is what Gazans overwhelmingly wanted to do.

This may be why the ground campaign is anticipated to last so long. It won't be over until every last fighter in Gaza is defeated, because there is no easy way for Hamas fighters to surrender.

The Washington Post describes what ground combat activities have commenced there:

Moving quickly, in darkness and daylight, Israeli tanks and soldiers entered the outskirts of Gaza City on Monday, reaching the main highway that connects north and south in the 25-mile-long enclave. The Israeli forces were so close to the city that ground troops called in airstrikes on Hamas targets. . . . 

Earlier in the day, other dramatic video footage taken by Palestinian journalists and geolocated by The Washington Post showed a white sedan traveling on the highway toward the Netzarim junction, where there was at least one Israeli tank. As the car executed a slow U-turn, the tank appeared to fire on and hit the vehicle. (Netzarim was an Israeli agricultural settlement whose last residents were evicted by Israeli soldiers in 2005 during their pullout from the Gaza Strip.)

Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari declined to comment on the incident on the highway on Monday, but told a news conference that Israel has “expanded the activity of our forces and additional forces entered the strip, including infantry, armored corps, combat engineering and artillery corps.”

“There is also direct contact between our forces on the ground and terrorists as the fighting continues inside the Gaza Strip,” Hagari said.

Without offering much detail, the Israeli military and the Shin Bet internal security agency issued a joint statement saying they had rescued an Israeli soldier who was taken hostage on Oct. 7 during the raids by Hamas into Israel. The soldier was identified as Private Ori Megidish. Authorities said she was in good health and photos appeared on Israeli media sites of her reunited with her family.

In other signs of a deeper incursion into Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces told journalists that Israeli troops spotted “an antitank missile launching post in the area of the al-Azhar University, and guided a fighter jet to strike them.” The university campus is located just south of Gaza City. Social media reports from Gaza said Israeli troops were in the area. 

Earlier, IDF soldiers hoisted an Israeli flag atop a beachside hotel north of Gaza City. 

Until now, short video clips released by the IDF mostly show tanks and troops operating on the periphery of Gaza, mainly in farmlands and the edges of urban areas. 

There are only two main roads connecting north and south in Gaza. One of them runs along the exposed coast and the other is Salah al-Din road, the main artery.