Military expert Elias Hanna said that the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip prepared the battlefield according to its capabilities while “preventing the Israeli occupation army from using its strongest assets,” as part of its effort to fight a long battle of attrition.
Hanna explained to Tel Aviv Tribune that the occupation army wants to enter the northern Gaza Strip to carry out a mission, stressing that it “cannot stay long due to the lack of military sectors.”
He added that the occupation was forced on previous occasions to withdraw from Jabalia, “which gives the resistance an opportunity to prepare again, before the occupation returns again based on intelligence information.”
He considered the occupation army’s mobilization, equivalent to a military division, towards Jabalia camp to indicate that it has an important goal to achieve, and it also reflects the importance of the camp.
He did not rule out that the occupation had taken advantage of the media focus on the northern front with Lebanon “to carry out the operation in Jabalia and the rest of the areas in the northern Gaza Strip.”
He said that Jabalia is the center of gravity in the northern Gaza Strip, and has historically been difficult for Israel, citing the occupation army’s announcement yesterday, Thursday, of the killing of 3 officers with the rank of major in the region.
He explained that the occupation entered Jabalia from open and agricultural areas, but reached residential areas, “which requires entry through mandatory corridors.”
This entry gives the resistance, according to the military expert, the opportunity to use its explosive devices and anti-armor shells and carry out sniper operations, explaining that the resistance’s strategy is based on long-term attrition, where it “wins if it does not lose.”
Hanna concluded that there are “various projects related to the northern Gaza Strip up to the Netzarim axis,” citing “an article written by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu through friends in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, stipulating that Gaza be governed militarily for two or three years.”
He also cited what the occupation army spokesman, Avichai Adraee, said to the residents of northern Gaza regarding “the necessity of evacuating via Salah al-Din Street towards Al-Mawasi in order to devote oneself to dealing with the resistance.”
Last Sunday, the occupation army announced the start of a new military operation in Jabalia under the pretext of “preventing Hamas from regaining its power in the region.”
This came hours after the heaviest bombardment since last May on the eastern and western regions of the northern Gaza Strip.
The Ministry of Interior in Gaza, in turn, warned citizens against responding to the occupation army’s calls to “evacuate their homes” in Jabalia 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 Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Galant had approved a study of operations that could be carried out in Gaza on the basis of the “generals’ plan.”
The plan stipulates imposing a siege on the northern Gaza Strip, halting humanitarian aid, and displacing the population.