The military and strategic expert, Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, described the ambush carried out by the Al-Qassam Brigades – the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) – against the occupation forces penetrating south of the Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza as successful and unprecedented and took a long time frame.
Al-Duwairi explained – during his analysis to Tel Aviv Tribune – that a successful ambush depends on the target, the availability of information, and then developing an accurate plan, noting that Al-Qassam is dealing with a supported Israeli force that can be supplied at any moment, while its fighters work within a tight time frame and there is no possibility of error.
He pointed out that the video shown by Al-Qassam did not exceed 3 minutes, but the operation took a long time, revealing that the area south of the Zaytoun neighborhood had been in contact with the occupation since the first week of the Israeli ground operation.
He pointed out that the Al-Qassam ambush was divided into 3 groups: the duty group, which targeted the invading Israeli force with anti-missiles and then fire machine guns, and the support group, which provided fire support required for the first group.
He noted the presence of a group of rescue equipment that prevented any reinforcements from reaching the target, as they chose a point to wait for the rescue and rescue forces and targeted a vehicle, before detonating an explosive device through a tunnel.
Al-Duwairi also praised the video of Islamic Jihad fighters – which targeted an Israeli special force barricaded in one of the homes of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip – and said that they had previously fought two major military battles with the occupation, and their weapons were somewhat different from the Qassam weapons.
Field developments
Regarding the latest developments on the ground, Al-Duwairi said that the occupation has moved north to the stage of focused targeting, recalling media reports that spoke of the withdrawal of between 60% and 90% of the size of the forces that entered the region after withdrawing two large divisions and retaining a paratroopers brigade, a Nahal brigade, a Yahalom unit specializing in tunnels, and two small groups of paratroopers. Elite forces.
He stressed that the occupation was unable to destroy the tunnel network in the northern Gaza Strip, and failed to liberate the prisoners and withdraw most of the forces it had deployed since the beginning of the ground war.
In the center of the Gaza Strip, the occupation – according to Al-Duwairi – made a modification after initially assigning the task to the “36 Armored” Division, before assigning the “99” Division, reinforced by 4 brigades, and allocating a brigade to each camp, in reference to the Al-Bureij, Al-Maghazi, Al-Nuseirat, and Al-Zawaida camps, which were separated and isolated from the camps. Some of them.
He explained that the occupation conducted a maneuver from Al-Zahraa Towers south of Gaza towards Al-Zawaida, in an attempt to separate Al-Zawaida and Al-Maghazi from Deir Al-Balah, which has not yet entered the battle.
To the south, the operation in Khan Yunis is still continuing at its most intense, as the occupation seeks to circumvent the city from the southern side due to the fierce resistance in Al-Qarara and Khuza’a, by developing its operations from the Al-Fukhari area towards Khirbet Al-Adas, according to the military expert.
Al-Duwairi estimated the size of the Israeli forces in Khan Yunis at 8 combat brigades, reinforced by two other brigades, revealing that the city’s battles are more severe than in the north due to the nature of the region, the positioning of elite forces from the rest of the resistance factions other than the Qassam, and the presence of a joint operations room, stressing that the management of the battle in the south is central, unlike what happened in the north. .