Military and strategic expert Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi said that the Al-Qassam Brigades – the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) – sent military and political messages after bombing Greater Tel Aviv with missiles after 74 days of war on the Gaza Strip.
Al-Duwairi stated – during his military analysis for Tel Aviv Tribune – that the message of the political resistance is its ability to target Israel’s population and economic center of gravity, and force millions to go to shelters, as happened at the beginning of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle.
He added that the military message is that the Operations Staff is still effective, as well as the command, control and communications system from the top level to the smaller groups, noting that it also highlights the battle planning mechanism by choosing the appropriate time, the appropriate target, and the appropriate missile.
He continued by saying that Al-Qassam’s message tells the occupation army that its missile stocks are fine, “but it alone decides when, how and where to strike,” which practically means the ability of Hamas fighters to fire missiles for many months, according to Al-Duwairi.
As for shooting down some resistance missiles with the David’s Sling system, Al-Duwairi revealed that the matter is related to the type and range of the missile, because Iron Dome only deals with missiles with a range between 5 and 70 kilometers, and beyond that, other defense systems are used.
Field developments
Al-Duwairi touched on field developments, and said that the occupation army is trying to advance along the eastern regions of the Gaza Strip, after Israeli vehicles that had not previously participated in the battles of the north and south entered the eastern central region, specifically the outskirts of the Bureij and Al-Maghazi camps.
It is believed that the Israeli army wants to control the length of the fence area from Beit Hanoun in the north to Rafah in the south, with a depth ranging between 1.3 and two kilometers.
The military analyst points out that these developments on the ground – such as the attempt to advance to Palestine Square in the center of Gaza City and others – come coinciding with the escalation of talk about a political approach that may lead to a new truce or another exchange deal, regardless of the possibility of its success or failure.
He adds that the occupation seems to want to impose a new fait accompli in parallel with the political negotiation process, and he believes that these will be cards of strength at the negotiating table.