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Avi Melamed’s insights quoted in “The Hamas Attack Is A Significant Moment For Israel” were quoted” | Source article here >>
The bold attack on Hamas At dawn it started firing rockets from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel. At the same time, The Palestinian group sent armed drones and fighters on motorcycles and para-gliders across the border to the strip, attack cities and military checkpoints.
Images circulating through social media showed Israeli civilians (who were sleeping or resting during Shabbat) fleeing for their lives across fields.
the Hamas’s deadly, carefully planned and multifaceted operation unleashed Israel’s worst nightmare: Civilians find themselves on the front lines of the conflict as their homes become war zones.
Israeli analysts described the attack as the worst within the territory of the Jewish State since 1948, the year of its founding. According to the latest figures released, More than 200 people were killed in Israel and Hamas took an unknown number of hostages.
Again, at least 232 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza according to official sources.
This is a important time for Israel, a country well aware of its vulnerability to hostile forces, but has long prided itself on the ability of its security and intelligence system to anticipate and crush threats on its borders.
The ability of Hamas to launch such a well-planned attack from within the confines of the impoverished and besieged Gaza Strip, surrounded by Israeli fences and military checkpoints, suggests a massive failure of intelligence which will send shock waves – and fear – through Israeli society.
It has echoes of the 1973 war, when Egypt and Syria took Israel by surprise by leading an Arab offensive in the Sinai and Golan Heights on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day. It cannot be a coincidence that Hamas launched its attack near the 50th anniversary of that war.
But Saturday’s attack took place inside Israel and targeted civilians, while in 1973 the Sinai and Golan Heights were under Israeli occupation.
Despite fighting at least four wars with Hamas since the group took control of Gaza in 2007, Israel has clearly underestimated the militants’ capabilities.
The most recent conflict occurred in 2021, when Hamas fired volley after volley of rockets into Israel, shocking Israeli security officials with its scope and scale.
Israel responded by attacking Gaza with airstrikes and artillery. Communal violence erupted between Palestinians, citizens of Israel and their Jewish neighbors; Protesters in the occupied West Bank clashed with Israeli security forces and Palestinian factions in Lebanon fired rockets into northern Israel.
More than 250 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed in 11 days of fighting, while 13 people were killed in Israel.
This outbreak of violence is on its way to getting worse: Hamas has fired thousands of rockets into Israel within hours.
she Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the head of the most right-wing government in the country’s history and who took office promising to adopt a tougher line on security, he noted that Israel is “at war.” Extremists within his coalition are likely to push for a tougher response.
In the capture of Israeli hostages by militants will add fuel to the fire as the authorities became desperate to secure his release.
Israeli security analysts warn against that The Jewish State may opt for a full-scale invasion of Gaza in an attempt to crush Hamas, which has repeatedly managed to replenish its ranks and arsenals of weapons after being bombarded from the air, land and sea.
It is the first ground offensive in this dense population of two million people since the 2014 war and will lead to more casualties on all sides and more destruction for the long-suffering population. in Gaza.
There is also the risk that an escalation of the conflict could cause a wider fire, if the Lebanese militant movement Hezbollah coordinates with Hamas and opens a front on the northern border of Israel. This would be a disaster for the region.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has a larger and more sophisticated arsenal of rockets and missiles than Hamas, which relies on homemade rockets.
Their involvement in the conflict would threaten to overwhelm Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, which protects its towns and cities.
Hezbollah already gave Israel a bloody nose during a month-long battle in 2006 and gained combat experience after intervening in Syria’s civil war to support President Bashar al-Assad.
Israel has long warned that it will respond to any serious attack by Hezbollah with a major offensive against Lebanon. a country on its knees after years of economic crisis and political turmoil.
Saturday’s events also raised Israeli fears that Iran, which supports Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian militant group in Gaza, may decide to light the fire.
Meanwhile, the West Bank is simmering in tension as it endures its worst cycle of violence since the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, ended in 2005. Israel conducts almost daily incursions into conquered territory. Rarely in recent years has the situation been so explosive.
“This is certainly a significant moment and, in any scenario, Israel comes out of it very badly.” said Avi Melamed, an Israeli intelligence analyst.
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