Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Israel expects to launch a ‘long’ ground war in Gaza
ISRAEL expects to launch a long and difficult ground offensive into Gaza soon to destroy Hamas, the country’s defence minister said.
Yoav Gallant described a campaign that will require dismantling a vast network of tunnels used by the territory’s militant rulers.
The defence minister spoke to a small group of foreign reporters in Tel Aviv after Israeli forces backed by fighter jets and drones carried out a second, limited ground raid into Gaza in as many days, striking the outskirts of Gaza City.
Mr Gallant said the ground invasion that follows weeks of air strikes “will take a long time”, and that it would lead to another lengthy phase of lower-intensity fighting as Israel destroys “pockets of resistance”.
In a sign of rising tensions in the region, US war planes struck targets in eastern Syria that the Pentagon said were linked to Iran’s Revolutionary
Guard after a string of attacks on American forces, and two mysterious objects hit towns in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
After three weeks of war sparked by a bloody Hamas incursion into southern Israel, the Palestinian death toll has soared past 7,300, according to officials in Gaza.
A blockade on Gaza has meant dwindling supplies of food, fuel, water and medicine, and UN and Arab leaders have called for a ceasefire to allow entry of humanitarian aid that is only trickling in.
On Thursday, Gaza’s health ministry released a detailed list of names and identification numbers of those killed, including more than 3,000 minors and more than 1,500 women.
More than 1,400 people were slain in Israel during Hamas’s October 7 attack, according to the Israeli government, and at least 229 hostages were taken into Gaza.
Palestinian militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel, including one that hit a residential building in Tel Aviv on Friday, injuring four people.
The overall number of deaths far exceeds the combined toll of all four previous wars between Israel and Hamas, estimated at around 4,000.
A ground invasion is expected to cause even higher casualties on both sides, as Israeli forces and Hamas battle each other in dense residential areas.
Hospitals have been scrounging for fuel to run emergency generators that power incubators and other lifesaving equipment after Israel cut off all fuel deliveries to Gaza at the start of the war, forcing its only power plant to shut down.
Mr Gallant said Israel believes that Hamas would confiscate any fuel that enters. He said Hamas uses generators to pump air into its hundreds of miles of tunnels, which originate in civilian areas. He showed reporters aerial footage of what he said was a tunnel shaft built right next to a hospital. “For air, they need oil. For oil, they need us,” he said.
Little is known about Hamas’s tunnels and other infrastructure, and it was not possible to independently confirm Mr Gallant’s claims.
Lynne Hastings, UN aid coordinator for Palestinian territories, declined to comment on Mr Gallant’s remarks, saying: “We don’t know what Hamas has or doesn’t have.” She added: “We have been bringing fuel into Gaza in coordination with the government of Israel for decades. We know fuel is a highrisk item and are working with the Israelis to make sure what we will be using for our operations is done securely.”