Military expert Brigadier General Elias Hanna said that the Israeli occupation army’s deployment of approximately the equivalent of a military division towards the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip means “its determination to go far in this ground operation.”
Hanna, a retired Lebanese brigadier general, explained that the occupation seems designed to go towards Jabalia, as it is a center of gravity for the Palestinian resistance and an incubating environment for it.
He clarified that completing the attempt to encircle Jabalia does not mean entering into the depths, adding that “there are mandatory corridors in the camp that force the occupation to enter through them, which is a strength point for the resistance.”
He said that the military doctrine adopted by the resistance is based on a network of tunnels, knowledge of the land, and the use of anti-missiles “as part of an innovative tactic to be used against the occupation army.”
The military expert wondered about the occupation’s goals in encircling Jabalia, saying: “Will it enter? Is there an important target inside it? Does it seek to destroy it completely? Or does it aim to displace its residents?”
He concluded that these objectives “obligate the occupation to remain in the region for a long time, which gives the resistance the ability to plan and strike the target bank.”
The Israeli army announced – Thursday evening – that 3 officers with the rank of major were killed in battles in the northern Gaza Strip, hours after the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (IRM) announced that a mechanized infantry company belonging to the occupation army had been ambushed on a compound east of the Jabalia camp.
The occupation army announced – last Sunday – the start of a new military operation in Jabalia under the pretext of “preventing Hamas from regaining its power in the region,” hours after intense bombing of the eastern and western regions in the northern Gaza Strip, including Jabalia, which is the heaviest bombing since last May.
The Ministry of Interior in Gaza warned citizens against responding to the occupation army’s calls to “evacuate their homes” in the Jabalia camp and the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia and to head south, considering them “deception and a lie.”
Israeli Army Radio reported late last month that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Galant approved a study of operations that could be carried out in Gaza on the basis of the “generals’ plan,” which stipulates a siege of the northern Gaza Strip, stopping humanitarian aid, and displacing the population.
