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In the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza City, Israeli forces are actively engaged in military operations aimed at dismantling Hamas' control over the region, particularly focusing on Gaza City, a key stronghold for the group.
Current Status of the Conflict
The conflict remains intense and highly complex. Israeli military operations involve ground incursions, airstrikes, and intelligence-based operations. Hamas continues to resist fiercely, employing urban guerrilla tactics, including the use of tunnels, sniper positions, and booby traps throughout Gaza City. The humanitarian situation in Gaza City is deteriorating rapidly due to ongoing bombardments, limited access to medical care, food, water, and electricity.
Challenges for Israeli Forces
- Urban Warfare Complexity: The dense urban environment of Gaza City provides significant tactical challenges. Fighting in such close quarters increases risks of casualties on both sides and complicates movement and communication.
- Tunnel Networks: Hamas has an extensive and sophisticated tunnel system beneath Gaza City, allowing fighters to move unseen, launch surprise attacks, and evade Israeli forces.
- Civilian Population: Gaza City is heavily populated with civilians, creating moral and operational dilemmas for Israeli forces attempting precision strikes while minimizing civilian casualties.
- Intelligence Difficulties: Differentiating combatants from civilians in a crowded urban area with civilian infrastructure is extremely challenging.
- International Scrutiny: Israeli military actions are under intense international scrutiny, increasing pressure to limit collateral damage and humanitarian impact.
Potential Consequences
The material destruction in Gaza City is expected to be enormous. Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group states that nothing will be left in Gaza City after the operation. Other obstacles could include improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and the use of civilians as human shields in a dense urban maze of narrow alleys and tall buildings.
Israeli forces face a highly dangerous and complicated battlefield environment in Gaza City, where progress is slow, costly, and fraught with strategic and ethical challenges. The situation continues to evolve rapidly with ongoing hostilities and diplomatic efforts.
Israel has tried to push civilians further south to humanitarian zones established by the military, but there is little space to accommodate more arrivals. Michael Milshtein, from Tel Aviv University, predicts the battle for Gaza City could be "very similar to Stalingrad."
Despite rumored disagreements, Eyal Zamir, the chief of the Israeli army, is confident in the Israeli army's ability to conquer Gaza City. Hamas's military wing in Gaza City may have between 10,000 to 15,000 fighters, many of them newly recruited. Eyal Zamir claims his forces "will be able to conquer Gaza City, just as it did in Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south."
Gaza City has been subjected to intense aerial bombardment, with remaining apartment buildings now sharing space with tents and makeshift shelters. Amir Avivi, a former Israeli general, describes Gaza City as the "heart of Hamas's rule in Gaza". The Israeli army is preparing for the potential use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and civilians as human shields in urban combat.
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