Did the Israelis finally succeed in smoking out the heroic Hamas leader Ismail Hanija from his hiding in that bunker under the Schifa Hospital?
Sure hope so.
Below is more on those heroic Hamas,
from my friend Zeev in Tel Aviv.
Taro
When it comes to a real fight, they show themselves for what they rally are – cowardly thugs.
"As the smoke clears and the military reports from Gaza start flowing in, the biggest surprise of this operation is that Hamas did not put up a real fight when the Israeli troops entered Gaza, the most dangerous place in the world, on foot.
To bewilderment of most Israelis, including to a certain extent the Israeli military intelligence, the 25,000 strong, well organized and armed to the teeth Hamas army of terror has proven itself to be a bunch of cowards when it came to face to face combat.
Two years ago Israel had a war with Nasralla's Hizbolla terrorists in Lebanon after they kindnapped Israeli soldiers. Part of Lebanese infrastructure was demolished, Hizbolla lost its grip of South Lebanon (now held by 12,000 UNIFL soldiers and Lebanese army), tens of thousands af Hizballa rocket caches were blown up, and Nasralla has been hiding in a bunker ever since and had since let it slip in a TV interview that had he estimated the strength of the Israeli response, he would not have kindnapped the soldiers. However, there has been no doubt that the fanatical Hizbolla fought bravely in clashes with the Israeli ground forces. This was not the case with Hamas.
Gaza is loaded with weapons and explosives to such an extent that the prospect of entering this densely populated area, with roads and houses booby-trapped by Hamas for years in preparation for Israeli retaliation, has been frightening for Israelis. When Israeli government decided to expand the military operation by sending in the ground forces, it was with heavy heart. Most Israelis were against sending our troops and advocated limiting the operation to surgical air strikes - insufficient as they may be. I expected heavy losses as our soldiers move on foot in the narrow streets of Gaza townships with deadly file showered at them form the roofs, remote-controlled booby-traps exploding under their feet, and fanatical suicide bombers jumping at them from doors and windows shouting Alla Akbar.
In such a situation the attacking ground forces, brave as they may be, are at a huge disadvantage and can expect heavy losses – as promised by Hamas many times. Shoulder rockets fired at armed personnel carriers from unseen opponents hiding at higher floors of tall buildings or behind bushes and hills; deadly fire of invisible snipers well hidden, safe and relaxed in taking aim at the exposed soldiers; booby-trapped roads, houses, trees; well prepared ambushes with fanatical fighters surprising the advancing ground forces and sawing death.
The reports from Gaza show that very little of his frightening scenario has materialized. Yes, many houses and roads were booby-trapped - but not with remote controls, as Hamas fighters fled and were not around to activate them at close range. There has been very little face to face contact - again, Hamas militants fled, and in most cases when our ground forces were fired at, it was at an inefficient long range. An absolutely enormous amount of underground tunnels were found - but they were empty except for rockets and other weapons left behind, having served as escape channels for the Hamas terrorists as they ran for their life instead of using them for ambushes. As a result, losses of the Israeli ground forces have been minimal so far.
In the relatively few cases when Hamas did put up an inept face to face fight, they were killed without Israelis incurring heavy losses, and Hamas losses mounted. Then the Hamas started defecting and refusing orders of their bunker-protected superiors to creep out of the tunnels and fight. The head of the Hamas' awesome rocket-firing division that sowed terror in the Israeli towns for years, had to get out of the bunker and operate a rocket himself when his fighters refused to do so - and was killed. The Israeli ground forces had to change the tactics and started to try to provoke Hamas to get out of their hiding places and fight - in most cases unsuccessfully. The Israeli ground forces are now in the suburbs of Gaza – weeks earlier than planned, having encountered little fight from the Hamas "Resistance".
It turns out that Hamas are brave mainly when it comes terrorizing their civilian population and forcing it to serve as human shields; torturing and shooting their Palestinian political rivals; firing rockets at civilian population from a safe range; keeping the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit totally isolated in an underground dungeon for years and terrorizing his family by reports that he is ill, and most of all - tough “resistance”
rhetorics. When it comes to a real fight, they show themselves for what they rally are – cowardly thugs." |
