On Friday, Israel ordered the residents of Gaza City to evacuate and move south, in a measure rejected by Hamas, and which the United Nations confirmed affected 1.1 million people, coinciding with the increasing possibility of a ground invasion of the Strip, which has been under siege for about 15 years..
For the first time since its withdrawal 17 years ago, Israel took the decision to launch a ground invasion of Gaza, after its “scorched earth” policy of devastating raids, in preparation for mitigating the damage and losses expected from this invasion..
The 350,000 reserve forces that were called up began; 100,000 of them on the northern borders with Lebanon and Syria, and the rest around Gaza, practical training for the invasion..
According to estimates by experts on the Sky News Arabia website, the ground invasion will destroy the Gaza Strip without justification, and will face difficulties, most notably: ambushes and trenches in Gaza, large numbers of Israeli hostages, and fortifications built by Hamas in the Strip. However, incursions can be carried out by private groups. To carry out quality operations only.
What are the military capabilities of the Israeli ground forces?
The Israeli army consists of 173,000 soldiers in active service and about 465,000 reserve soldiers, and the number of people eligible for military service is about 1.7 million people..
- Israel mobilized its army, including 8,000 special commandos, artillery pieces and rocket launchers, along with 300 tanks, in the border settlement of Sderot..
- The Israeli ground forces number 140,000 soldiers currently in service, and these forces possess 1,650 tanks, including 500 of the Merkava class, which are described as among the most fortified tanks in the world..
- Israel has 7,500 combat armored vehicles, and the artillery force is about a thousand vehicles, including 650 self-propelled artillery, in addition to 300 field artillery..
What about its air and missile power?
According to statistics published by the British newspaper The Sun, Israel used a deadly missile and bomb system that included more than 600 warplanes and 300 missile launchers to attack the densely populated Gaza Strip, while dropping 2,000 pieces of ammunition and 1,000 tons of bombs on more than 2,400 Hamas targets in the Strip. Gaza until last Wednesday.
According to military reports, Israel possesses 595 multi-mission military aircraft, including 241 combat aircraft and 23 attack aircraft, in addition to 128 military helicopters, and aircraft for carrying out special missions and others for military cargo..
It also has, according to the “Global Fire” and “Army Recognish” websites, 11 types of missiles, some of which are local and others imported from other countries, including winged and ballistic missiles, in addition to rocket artillery, the most prominent of which is:
- “Jericho 1: A short-range ballistic missile developed between France and Israel with a range between 500 and 720 kilometers, but it was taken out of service..
- “Jericho 2: A medium-range ballistic missile developed by Israel with a range between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometers..
- “Jericho 3: A medium-range ballistic missile developed by Israel with a range of 4,800 to 6,500 kilometers..
- “Laura: A short-range ballistic missile with a range of 280 kilometers that can be launched from land or sea. It is a category of anti-ship missiles..
- “”Arrow-3″… It is part of the multi-layer air defense network, which Israel designed to protect its airspace to intercept air targets flying in the upper layers of the atmosphere..
- ““Iron Dome” and “David’s Sling” secure the near and medium skies.
Expectations of a large, long-term ground operation
The military expert, Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, told Sky News Arabia that the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation carried out by the Hamas movement was a qualitative development in its performance compared to previous wars and operations against Israel, indicating that the Israeli response is harsh and more exaggerated..
- Over the past few days, Israel has escalated in the air in preparation for a ground escalation through heavy use of fire on land and at sea
- It is expected that Hamas leaders who ran the operation will be targeted, along with excessive targeting of infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.
- The Israeli bombing did not exclude any facilities or buildings, as two hundred military aircraft were used to bomb a geographical area that was considered very small, with this number of aircraft.
- Its talk of a long-term war means that it will proceed to a large ground operation that may take a long time.
Revenge against Hamas
As for the Russian military expert, Vladimir Igor, he told Sky News Arabia that a ground invasion of Gaza would destroy the Strip without justification, and Israel had tried this before in previous wars, and it did not succeed..
- The ground invasion faces difficulties from ambushes and trenches dug by Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip
- The large numbers of Israeli hostages held by the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements worry Israel.
- The fortifications built by Hamas in the Strip 17 years ago could surprise Israeli forces.
- It can carry out incursions into the territory of the Gaza Strip by special groups to carry out specific operations only, and it may expand gradually according to field developments.
- Israel aims to take revenge on Hamas for its successful military attack in terms of achieving complete surprise and deceiving Israel while turning the Palestinians against the movement after their great joy in these gains as a prelude to the release of Palestinian prisoners..
- Israel wants to inflict greater destruction on the Gaza Strip than any previous military operation, so that it can be a model and a message for Hezbollah to realize that supporting Hamas will make many Lebanese towns like the cities and camps of the Gaza Strip..
- Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel does not justify the destruction of the Gaza Strip.
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