2023-10-28 10:00:36
Gaza City under Israeli airstrikes on October 27. YOUSEF HASSOUNA/AFP
The Israeli army’s war in Gaza was expected to begin overnight. On this point, all sources seemed to agree in recent days when it came to considering how Israeli ground operations should begin in the strip, already targeted by intense bombardment. For the rest, from the plan for a large-scale ground invasion, sketched out urgently after the Hamas attack on October 7, to a plan integrating localized actions before an infantry deployment in several phases. , a whole range of actions were considered. Lately, a series of operations limited to certain sectors, carried out by very mobile forces, seemed favored.
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On the evening of Friday October 27, three weeks after the Hamas attack on Israeli territory, during which 1,400 people were killed and more than 220 others kidnapped, a new military milestone was reached, as described by the Israeli army spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari: “The Air Force is attacking underground targets and terror infrastructures with significant resources, and the infantry forces are expanding the scope of their operations. » « Les IDF [Forces de défense israéliennes], he added, act with force… to achieve the objectives of this war. »
Which ? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had succinctly defined these objectives two days earlier during a televised speech in which he explained that the army’s mission was to“eliminate Hamas by destroying its military capabilities and various structures, while doing everything in our power to bring back our hostages”. After the Hamas attack, when the Israeli military response seemed driven by a desire to respond that nothing seemed to be able to temper, the question of hostages did not figure at the heart of tactical projections. Over time, this position has become more nuanced.
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Ground fighting
But while attempts at negotiations on this subject are still underway, forcing oneself to wait for a collective release before launching ground operations appears to be a trap to several Israeli military sources. One of them believed, on Friday, to see in the negotiation process only a “way of gaining time for Hamas, hoping to play attrition against us”.
Saturday morning, the scale of the ongoing operations remained difficult to measure. “During the night, IDF fighter planes [armée israélienne] struck 150 underground targets in the northern Gaza Strip, including tunnels used by terrorists, underground combat sites and other underground infrastructure. Several Hamas terrorists were killed »said a statement issued after a night of intense air raids.
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