Throughout the 51 kilometers of border between Israel and Gaza, thousands of men and women gather ready for what they consider the honorable mission of defending their country. Some have taken planes from the other side of the world to be here. Others come from different parts of the Jewish State. They all arrived days ago and their task has not yet begun. The so Imminent ground invasion of the Gaza Strip announced by the Israeli Army is hard to believe. Just 15 days after the Hamas aggression that claimed almost 1,400 Israeli lives, the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, seems to have put on the brakes when it comes to military action. And the plan involves doing it in three phases.
“Nothing has been postponed,” clarifies the brigadier general Amir Avivi. The founder of Israel Security and Defense Forum (IDSF, for its acronym in English), which represents 16,000 Army reservists, repeats the word that has dominated the military authorities for two weeks: “the ground incursion is imminent.” “It will happen when we decide,” he tells EL PERIÓDICO. The message is clear. “We are going to conquer Gaza, to destroy Hamas and Islamic Jihad completely and to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorist organizations,” he states forcefully. “There is no other way to do it without a ground invasion”, he adds.
But many point out that the word ‘imminent’ It is losing its meaning two weeks after the attack by the Islamist Palestinian militia. Still, no one in Israel doubts that its Army will also enter Gaza by land. Since the start of the conflict, a record number of reservists have been recruited, a total of 360,000, which have been distributed between the northern border to neutralize Hezbollah and the southern one. In recent days, Israeli authorities have also evacuated border towns with the enclave, declaring the area as military area and limiting access to soldiers and authorized persons.
Actions on the ground
Beyond the warmongering speeches of Netanyahu and his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, something is being done. “There are several related reasons why the Israeli Army has not yet started the ground incursion,” he explains. Danny Orbachmilitary historian of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “Firstly, there is fear within the ranks that are not prepared enough“Because Hamas has been preparing for this invasion for years with tunnels, explosive traps or ambushes,” he analyzes. “If Israel had attacked immediately afterwards out of feelings of revenge, it would have fallen into the Hamas trap“, invading without being prepared with the tremendous consequences that that would entail,” he adds.
Therefore, although the troops do not cross, for now, that suddenly porous border, the movements along that limit are multiple. There is training constants, repair of tanks and military vehicles, designs of strategic plans for tomorrow. Gallant has already announced the development of the war in three phases. “Another reason that Israel wants to achieve maximum international support of the European Union and the United States before entering and, even, he himself has been surprised by the protection of several European countries,” says Orbach. “In addition, the third reason could have to do with the Netanyahu’s character“Because he is a hesitant leader who usually prefers to delay decisions rather than decide,” says the Harvard University graduate.
“We have no other choice”
Military experts agree: Israel has no choice but to enter Gaza. “There is no other way to destroy Hamas if not by entering the Strip, unless you want to invent physics again,” Avivi ironically says. “Although entering may be quick, clearing the enclave of terrorist infrastructure it will take us months”, adds the founder of IDSF. “We need two unconditional things: we must control the Egyptian border and not allow this flow of weapons into Gaza, and secondly, we have to have complete freedom of operations as in Judea and Samaria [nombre usado por las autoridades israelís para referirse a la zona de la Cisjordania ocupada]; Without this, we cannot guarantee that Hamas will be eliminated,” he concludes.
This need to invade Gaza is a survival questiondefend soldiers and civilians in the Hebrew State. “Israel cannot exist if it does not destroy Hamas and Hezbollahwhich are part of the circle of encirclement around us that is closing Iran through its allies,” denounces Orbach, who points out that his country “faces a dilemma.” Avivi agrees, stating that “the Army is very, very motivated.” “People really want to defend their country, they understand that this is something existential”, says the brigadier general. At the edge of the border towards the Israeli side, this motivation is palpable. It becomes evident in the hundreds of young faces who await the signal so desired, so risky.
The suffering of Gaza
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At the gates of Kibbutz Be’eri, the scene of one of the Hamas massacres, two kilometers from Gaza, dozens of soldiers polish the tanks as they continue new colleagues arriving. “We are 300,000 Israelis who come together to defend their country after the atrocity of October 7,” denounces the major Marcus Sheff among the dust raised by military vehicles moving at full speed. “The Army is focused on eliminating Hamas, its infrastructure, everything they have created; “Israel has a war with Hamas, not with the civilian population of Gaza,” he responds when questioned by the more than 4,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli bombs these days.
The look, the speeches, the narrative do not pass through that obstacle, that of a civil population that has already been enduring all the suffering of the Palestinian people since – also tragic for them – October 7. “The Army is necessarily prepared for the urban warfare that will take place when we enter the Strip,” Sheff repeats to this newspaper. Behind him and a fence still full of holes, dozens of tanks, trucks, excavators and other military infrastructure that transport the recruits continue to circulate. Few pay attention to the gray smoke that emerges from between the profiles of the buildings in the background, before reaching the Mediterranean Sea. While they literally flatten the Gaza territoryIsraeli soldiers anxiously await the order to save their country.