Hamas’s senior officials are corrupt and rich, provoking Israel to transfer contradictions.
Hamas’s rocket attack led to Israeli troops sending troops to retaliate.
The fuse of this round of large-scale conflict between Palestine and Israel was buried as early as a few months ago. On April 23rd, Fatah led by Abbas reached a settlement with Hamas. Since then, Palestine and Israel have been at odds. From the beginning of the year to mid-March, Hamas fired at least 60 rockets into Israel (note: see attached table), and Israel, fed up with it, attacked northern Gaza on June 11th, causing many Palestinian casualties, thus escalating the retaliatory actions of both sides.
On the evening of June 12, three Jewish seminary students disappeared while hitchhiking near Hebron in southern Israel. On June 14th, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the missing teenagers were "kidnapped by terrorist organizations". On that night, Israeli warplanes launched air strikes on various targets in Gaza. The next morning, the Israeli army went out again and arrested about 150 Palestinians, including Hassan Youssef, an important leader of Hamas. The regional situation suddenly became tense, and Hamas continued to launch rockets into Israel, thus opening the curtain of a new round of conflict between Palestine and Israel.
On June 30th, Israel discovered the remains of the missing teenagers. From July 1st, the armed forces of the army, navy and air force went into battle to attack Gaza. On July 8, Israel launched the "Blade of Defense" military operation. On the evening of July 17th, a large number of Israeli ground troops moved into Gaza, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict entered a white-hot stage of hand-to-hand combat.
Hamas beat Gaza civilians and forced them to act as "human shields"
When Israel launched the ground war, it happened that Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine, which invisibly covered the Israeli army’s actions. Although the Israeli army will distribute leaflets, call or send text messages to inform Palestinian civilians to evacuate in advance before air strikes or attacks, according to foreign media reports on July 25th, Hamas beat and intimidated residents who tried to leave the war zone, forced them to return to their residences as "human shields" and hid rocket launchers in densely populated residential areas, hospitals, schools and mosques. "The enemy wants us to fire at these targets and hurt innocent bystanders, thus putting us under international pressure," said Major Delaur, an Israeli army spokesman.
After all, the war is ruthless. As of August 2, more than 1,600 Palestinians have been killed and 9,000 injured in Gaza, 70% of them are civilians. On the other hand, 63 soldiers and 3 civilians in Israel have died or disappeared, and more than 160 people have been injured. Although Egypt has allowed the Palestinian wounded to go to Egyptian hospitals for treatment, and foreign aid and doctors can also enter Gaza through the country, the life of Gaza residents is still very difficult. Some towns are cut off from water and electricity for 20 hours every day, and more than 460,000 people have fled their homes, about half of whom have temporarily taken refuge in 61 shelters built by the United Nations.
After four Middle East wars, Israel abandoned expansion and turned to defense.
It is regrettable that Israeli military actions have caused a large number of civilian casualties. However, the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict this time is mainly due to Hamas’s constant harassment of Israel and its infiltration into Israel to carry out kidnapping and assassination, which has caused Israel to suffer.
It has been more than 66 years since Israel became independent on May 14th, 1948, and its founding time is longer than that of most countries in the world. As a normal country that has been recognized by more than 80% of the United Nations member states (note: including the five permanent members), the security concerns of Israel and its eight million citizens should be respected.
Moreover, after the end of the fourth Middle East War in 1973, high-level reflection on historical lessons has gradually abandoned the expansion policy and adopted a new strategy of "peaceful negotiation+active defense". For example, in 2006, Israel attacked southern Lebanon in retaliation for the cross-border Hezbollah armed forces, and it took only more than three months from the start to the evacuation. At the same time, Israel invested billions of dollars to build a separation wall with a total length of more than 600 kilometers on the Palestinian-Israeli, Lebanese-Israeli and Egyptian-Israeli borders, and deployed the "Iron Dome" rocket interception system at home, which further highlighted the conservatism of its defense policy. Israel hopes that the Palestinian-controlled areas will develop independently and replace the bloody struggle with peaceful competition.
Hamas used tunnels to provoke the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to divert people’s dissatisfaction.
However, Hamas has been in power in Gaza for eight years, and his "clean government" has been accused by 57% of Gaza residents of "widespread corruption". Senior officials in Hamas sold land and embezzled at least $800 million from banks. Their members went to luxury houses, while Audi, Porsche, Hummer and other famous cars went out. A few privileged people made a fortune through smuggling, but 70% of the residents were struggling under the poverty line, and the unemployment rate was as high as 30%. In addition, Hamas’s support for a radical faction of the Syrian opposition has led to Iran’s suspension of its monthly aid of 20 million US dollars, and Egypt has also strengthened border control, which has sharply reduced the smuggling income of the former (note: 700 million US dollars per year).
Faced with the rising discontent among the people, Hamas tried to provoke the Palestinian-Israeli conflict again to pass on the internal contradictions. Especially after Israel began to build the separation wall in 2003, Hamas dug dozens of tunnels leading to Israel and connected them into a network. According to the photos, some tunnels in Hamas are "exquisite in workmanship", and the walls and tops on both sides are made of thick cement slabs, and the top is also built into an arch coupon structure with certain seismic performance. The pipes covered with plastic sheaths are stretched regularly on the walls, and the ground is paved with simple rails that can be used by carts. People are so big that they are not humbled when standing in the tunnels.
It is said that Hamas has moved many rocket launchers, equipment repair shops, ammunition depots and command centers underground to avoid Israeli air strikes, and from time to time, it has sent armed men with light weapons, sedatives and handcuffs to sneak into Israel to launch attacks. On June 25th, 2006, a number of Israeli militants kidnapped 19-year-old Israeli sentry Shah Park Jung Su through an 800-meter-long tunnel, eventually forcing Gaza to exchange 1,027 Palestinian prisoners for the latter. Therefore, Israel hates the Hamas tunnel, and will try to get rid of it quickly.
The Israeli army’s "air strikes to clear the way and the cooperation of the three armed forces" focused on tunneling.
According to the division of "areas of responsibility", the Israeli Southern Command usually directs Gaza’s operations, and this "Defence Blade" is no exception. Under the command, there are 80 divisions and 643 divisions (note: also known as Gaza Division), as well as three reserve armored divisions, including 252 divisions and 366 divisions, and some directly affiliated units of military regions, with a standing force of about 25,000 to 30,000. Shortly after the operation "Blade of Defense" began, Israel quickly recruited about 86,000 reserve officers and soldiers, and assembled hundreds of Merkava MK4 main battle tanks, M109 self-propelled artillery and zadar armored personnel carriers at the border.
In terms of specific tactics, the Israeli army followed the tactics of "air strikes to clear the way, ground follow-up, and coordination among the three armed forces". First, it dispatched F-16 and F-15 fighter planes, and bombed thousands of Hamas targets in Gaza City, Shezai in the east, Shati in the north, Khan Younis in the south and Deir Ballach in the middle (note: including rocket launchers, At the same time, Israeli helicopter gunships and fighter planes also launched a large number of Hellfire and Spike -ER missiles, destroying buildings where the enemy might be hiding and supporting ground operations. In addition, the Israeli army sends more than 10 unmanned aerial vehicles around Gaza for reconnaissance every day, so as to obtain battlefield information in time and reduce accidental injuries to civilians. Israeli warships also patrol the offshore of Gaza, monitoring and shelling offshore targets.
After the ground war started, the Israeli army first set off from Kisufim military base near the central border of Gaza and went straight into Gaza along Highway 242. The primary goal was to search for and destroy the Hamas tunnel in the border area. The first Israeli ground troops to enter Gaza were probably the aforementioned Gaza Division, which has been ordered to defend Jewish settlements in Gaza since 1967. On July 17th, 13 Hamas militants crossed the tunnel and tried to attack the Sufa port in Israel, but were defeated by the Israeli army.
Attacking Hamas stronghold with elite special forces suffered heavy losses.
In the following days, the Israeli army expanded the scope of its attack, aiming at Gaza City, the core stronghold of Hamas. During this process, the Nahar Infantry Brigade under the Central Command was also ordered to fight in Beit Hanoun, north of Gaza, and the Gorani Infantry Brigade, known as the elite (note: under the Northern Command), took on the heavy responsibility of attacking Shezai. From the map, Shezai, located in the east of Gaza, is the gateway of the former. If the Israeli army wants to take Gaza directly, it must first take this place. It is also known that Shezai is not only hiding the leadership of Hamas, but also an important rocket launching position, and many tunnels have been dug, and the former command post is also hidden here.
From July 20th, Israeli mechanized infantry attacked Shezai under the cover of artillery fire, while Hamas militants who fought to the death tried to stop Israeli tanks and armored vehicles with mines and roadside bombs. On the day of the war, the Golani Brigade suffered heavy losses because of its opponent’s "anti-tank missiles, RPG attacks and heavy machine guns hidden in the building". As many as 13 soldiers were killed (note: 7 people were ambushed in armored vehicles, and 6 others died in street fighting), one was missing (note: the 20-year-old Israeli sergeant named Allen Saul was allegedly captured by Hamas), and even the brigade commander Lasan Alien was attacked by enemy RPG rockets, and his head was hit.
In the evening, the reinforcements of Hamas armed men took advantage of the cover of darkness to enter Shezai through the tunnel and continued to fight the next day. Despite the surge in casualties, Netanyahu warned his people to "prepare for a protracted war" and "the war will stop only when all the secret tunnels used to kill Israeli civilians are destroyed."
The number of times the Israeli army destroyed 3,200 target fighters increased fourfold.
Since 1987, there have been seven large-scale armed conflicts between Palestine and Israel. According to the relevant data, the interval and duration of the previous conflicts have been greatly shortened (Click on the picture), on the one hand, it highlights that the contradiction between Palestine and Israel is becoming more and more acute with the passage of time, on the other hand, it shows that Israel is increasingly inclined to use the "blitzkrieg" of "quick victory" to weaken the anti-Israeli forces. It is worth noting that the number of Palestinian casualties in previous conflicts has also shown an overall rapid upward trend (Click on the picture), reflecting Israel’s impatient revenge mentality of "excessive defense" because of the fruitless pursuit of "absolute security", and the Palestinian-Israeli contradiction has thus fallen into a vicious circle of violence against violence.
According to the figures released by Israel, from July 8 to 22, the Israeli army bombed 3,200 targets in the Gaza. According to the calculation of the "Cast Lead" operation in 2009, the Israeli army dispatched about 700 sorties of various fighters and destroyed more than 500 targets in 10 days. In the 15 days after the start of the "Blade of Defense" operation, the Israeli army dispatched about 4,500 sorties of various fighters (note: fighters accounted for 90%).
Hamas launches 1,600 rockets in 10 days to hit high-value targets.
On the other hand, Hamas is not to be outdone. In 2009, it launched 616 rockets in two weeks, with an average of 44 rockets per day. This time, since July 8, Hamas has launched more than 1,600 rockets into Israel in just 10 days, with an average of 160 rockets per day, and the attack intensity is also four times as high as before. It is worth noting that Hamas not only successfully interfered with civil aviation traffic, but also targeted some "high-value targets", such as air bases and nuclear facilities in central and southern China. This time, the two sides can be described as "blood".
By July 30th, the Israeli military had killed and wounded more than 500 Israeli militants, discovered more than 30 secret tunnels and 36 shafts, and destroyed and consumed 40% of Hamas’s rocket stocks. In the battle, the Israeli army once encountered an opponent attacking with a donkey tied with explosives, and also met Hamas militants pretending to be injured and asking for help, waiting for an opportunity to throw grenades at the Israeli soldiers who arrived. The disparity in weapons and equipment between Palestine and Israel and the "doing whatever it takes" to destroy their opponents can be seen.
Both Israelis and Hamas know that this war cannot go on forever. Especially for Hamas, its real purpose is to use the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to pressure Egypt to open the Rafah port bordering Gaza, thus alleviating its own predicament. The Sethi regime also has the sincerity and motivation to promote a ceasefire in terms of enhancing international prestige, striving for external assistance, and stabilizing the domestic situation (note: especially the Sinai Peninsula). As mentioned earlier, the Egyptian border blockade has been partially lifted, and the conditions and time for Hamas to accept the ceasefire are gradually taking shape. However, as long as the Palestinians and Israelis still firmly believe that "power and force can bring security and even victory", lasting peace in this bloody land is doomed not to come.
References:
1. Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/opinion/op-ed-contributors/hamass-corruption.
2. Associated Press:
http://hosted2.ap.org/ORBEN/07e34bb59e064cedb7e2776e8db4b4f7/Article_2014-07-18-ML–Israel-Palestinians/id-e340748d597e4d5fb5e3aa8f3da11eab
3. Israeli intelligence website "Debock Archives": www.debka.co.il
4. The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/category/breaking-news/Gaza-crisis/
5. Washington post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/21/how-hamas-uses-its-tunnels-to-kill-and-capture-israeli-soldiers/
6. CNN website: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/17/world/meat/middle east-crisis/index.html.