Israel, Palestine | Experts on the ground war in Gaza: – Exactly what Hamas wants

– The ground war inside the city requires a great effort, and the same applies to Israel in Gaza. This means that they would have to enter and reoccupy the city, and we have to assume that this is the possibility that Hamas has envisioned and prepared for, former Defense Minister Sverre Dessen, now a researcher at the Defense Research Institute, tells Netavisen.

– It will lead to huge casualties among civilians

Diesen describes this task as extremely difficult on the military and political levels for Israel, and that it is a solution that will necessarily lead to great suffering for the civilian population in Gaza.

– Hamas wants to achieve precisely this, which is to cause a problem for Israel’s reputation because reoccupation will inevitably lead to huge civilian losses, he says.

– However, this is what many are waiting to happen now. Do you think Israel will fight a ground war?

We cannot rule this out. The Israeli government is under pressure because there will be a unanimous demand among the population after the Hamas attacks at the weekend. But the technical and military challenges of operations in urban areas, as well as the long-term impacts, are significant.

In 1967, Israel declared war and occupied the West Bank. Are there any lessons learned from the 1967 Six-Day War that are relevant to Israel today?

– No, it was a war waged practically entirely against Egypt in the Sinai Desert, and the desert is almost an ideal battlefield. A ground war in Gaza would be something completely different.

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– Hamas does this with its eyes open

– What we can imagine now is an escalation from bad to worse and will it continue for a long time?

– Yes, and here lies the sarcasm on the part of Hamas. They do this with their eyes open. They know that this will cost the lives of Palestinians, but it is a price they believe is worth paying.

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– He wants to spread the armed struggle

Middle East affairs expert and researcher at UiO, Dag Henrik Tostad, believes that Hamas wanted to provoke a ground war in Gaza:

– I think that Hamas wants to militarize the situation in the Palestinian territories. They want more violence, and they believe that the way forward for Palestinians is through violence and that this violence is spreading to other Palestinian areas.

– It is clear that Hamas realizes that this will also lead to increased suffering for the civilian population in Gaza?

– Yes, this is asymmetric warfare. They use the civilian population as de facto human shields. It is clear that Hamas’s long-term goal is to spread the armed struggle and replace the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Hamas wants the collapse of the Palestinian Authority. Then they succeeded in spreading militarization. Hamas believes that violence is more beneficial than negotiations.