After the horror and depravity Israel just experienced, an Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip is no longer a question of “if,” but “when.” It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are preparing for a ground incursion to root out Hamas, kill as many Hamas commanders as possible and destroy the terrorist organization’s ability to threaten Israeli civilians with violence.
The writing is on the wall. Approximately 360,000 Israeli reservists have been called to duty, most of them positioned in or near the southern Israeli border communities that were victimized by the full-scale, indiscriminate Hamas assault. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu phoned President Joe Biden on October 8, as the Hamas attack was still ongoing, and reportedly told him that Israel had no choice but “to go in” with ground forces. One former Israeli defense official told Al-Monitor, a Middle East-focused news website, that Hamas made a fatal mistake. “Israel cannot afford not to settle the score with them,” this source said. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was unequivocal: “I have released all the restraints, we have [regained] control of the area, and we are moving to a full offense.”
Israel and Hamas are no strangers to warfare, of course. Before last weekend’s violence, the two fought each other four times over a 15-year timeframe. Engagements between Israel and Hamas took on a familiar character: Hamas would send missiles flying into Israel; Israel would retaliate by launching airstrikes into Gaza for days and sometimes weeks; and Egypt would eventually mediate a ceasefire. A degree of calm would be established, only for the calm to be ruptured by more missile attacks and airstrikes. Hamas simply didn’t have resources or manpower to take the fight to Israel, and the Israelis didn’t have the desire to send its own troops into Gaza’s densely-packed neighborhoods. For Israel, airpower was the ultimate tool, a way to penalize Hamas and restore some deterrence while avoiding the high cost of a ground campaign.
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