Occupied Jerusalem- With the end of the third month of the war on the Gaza Strip approaching, the Israeli army resorted to a policy of “saving and saving” ammunition and not excessive use of weapons in order to preserve the reserve of military equipment in the warehouses, in anticipation of any emergency and for fear of a comprehensive confrontation with Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon.
According to estimates by the Israeli Ministry of Security, the cost of the war on Gaza has so far reached 65 billion shekels ($18 billion), and this huge amount is equivalent to the entire annual Israeli defense budget, excluding American aid funds.
This “economy” in weapons and ammunition comes amid the complexity of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, and the heavy losses that the Palestinian resistance inflicts daily on the Israeli army in terms of equipment and manpower.
It also comes at a time when military and political analyzes unanimously agree on the failure to achieve the declared goals of the war, and say that undermining the rule of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and its military arsenal requires a long period of fighting.
Unrealistic goals
Military analyzes estimated that the resolution of the battle in Gaza depends on the size of the Israeli army’s armament, which reduces and “economizes” in the use of weapons and ammunition in order to preserve emergency stocks in warehouses, while political analyzes believe that the course of the war was managed according to declared goals that are not consistent with the facts on the ground and in the field.
The Israeli army’s policy comes despite unprecedented American military support. Since the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle on October 7, and the aggression against Gaza, Washington has sent 230 cargo planes and 30 ships to Tel Aviv loaded with ammunition, weapons, artillery shells, armored vehicles, and basic combat equipment. For fighters, including ceramic jackets.
In order to preserve the reserve of weapons and ammunition, the military industries affiliated with the Israeli Ministry of Security deliberately – in some cases – early activated long-term contracts for weapons and military equipment that were on the shelves, or found in American emergency stores.
In a reading of this policy, Yossi Yehoshua, the military and security affairs correspondent for the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, wrote an article entitled “They keep a side for the war in the north: This is how the arms economy works in the Israeli army.”
The military correspondent reviewed the meanings and implications of this policy, saying, “The large number of casualties and injuries among the ranks of the Israeli army forces in the war on Gaza raises an extensive discussion about the scope and strength of the weapons used that are supposed to facilitate the ground incursion into crowded and dangerous areas.”
Fear and excess
It is likely that the occupation army used large and unprecedented quantities of ammunition and weapons during the war that were in stock and warehouses, and therefore it “spared” with the use of either air or artillery in order to preserve the stock and fear the scenario of the escalation with Hezbollah developing into a comprehensive confrontation.
The Israeli army says that there will be no saving in the use of ammunition in a way that exposes soldiers to danger, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also claims that there is no pressure from the United States, which provides a large part of the weapons.
However, the military correspondent says, “The truth is that the Israeli army is sparing in its use of ammunition, even though at the beginning of the war this was excessive.”
The military correspondent quoted a high-ranking Israeli security official as saying, “The army has mobilized its weapons depots again, and even more than that, in order to remain fully prepared and prepared for the possibility of a comprehensive war with Hezbollah.”
According to the security official, the occupation army, during the war on Gaza, did not use the ammunition designated for attack and air defense if a war broke out on the northern front, pointing out that “the army’s excessive use of ammunition, aircraft, and artillery in the first month of the war is due to an incomplete estimate of the enemy’s capabilities to resist.” .
On the other hand, the military analyst in the newspaper “Maariv”, Tal Lev Ram, confirmed that the Israeli army has been adopting for several days the “economy” policy of using weapons and ammunition in the war on Gaza, pointing out that this policy will soon be discussed in the “war cabinet.”
allegations
In recent days, allegations have been made from various parties at the political and even popular levels. The military analyst says, “The Air Force is currently refraining from operating at full capacity in the Gaza Strip for political considerations, and that the intensive activity will only take place before the ground entry of army fighters into a new area in the Strip.” .
These estimates were confirmed by Major General Eliezer Toledano, stressing that Israeli aircraft attack less frequently in Gaza, and explaining that “the reasons for this are entirely operational, and that “there is no limit to the use of force.”
Toledano told the ministers during the weekly government session, “There is no army in the world that is endless, but the consideration that guides us is operational. This is a war that will last for a long time, and we will have to manage the arms economy, but the goal is to eliminate Hamas in the end,” as he put it.
The dilemma facing Israel now, says military analyst Lev Ram, “is not whether the air force should be activated, but rather whether it is right to continue the incursion and reach virtually every home and every site in the Strip, in light of the difficult guerrilla war that is developing there.”
Ram adds, “The Israeli Air Force dropped more than 30,000 shells and bombs on the Strip, which is a huge number by any standards. Managing the arms economy is an integral part of any war, and this may be especially true in a long war such as the one Israel is now fighting in Gaza.” And perhaps in the north as well.
He concluded by saying, “The security establishment is keen to emphasize that the operational considerations in the current situation of the war are very complex, and the Israeli army also draws conclusions from previous combat rounds in the Gaza Strip that the use of excessive air force will not achieve the desired results against Hamas tunnels.”
