Palestinians celebrate over a destroyed Israeli tank at the border with the West Bank. AP.
A massive surprise attack by Hamas targeting Israel has left dozens dead and Israel in a state of war against Hamas. AP. The attack was launched from the Gaza strip and involved a massive rocket strike and teams of infantry attacking border cities. At least 22 Israelis are dead and hundreds more wounded in the largest attack in years. Video released on social media shows Hamas fighters capturing Israeli civilians and soldiers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the country was at war. It is unclear why the attack was launched now and Saudi Arabia called for both sides to show restraint. It is also unclear how the Israelis missed the preparations for the attack.
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My Comment:
This was a massive attack and, by all appearances, a wildly successful one. Hamas was not only able to launch thousands of rockets at Israel, they were also able to infiltrate deep into Israel and attacked via air, sea and land. The Israelis, by all accounts, appear to have been caught totally off guard.
The sophistication and equipment for this raid is fairly surprising. The combat footage I have seen has professional looking soldiers armed with modern equipment. The AP was even saying that some fighters infiltrated Israel via hang gliders, which is just impressive if true. They were also able to destroy at least one tank and may have taken other armor from the Israelis.
Hamas and their allies have also taken Israeli civilians and soldiers hostage, and have stolen some of the bodies of the people they have killed. Some of those people may have been of high rank in the military and all of them are major bargaining chips for Hamas as the war continues.
There are reports of civilians being killed. What isn't clear is how many of them were killed on purpose and how many of them were killed in the crossfire. With the fog of war a real problem right now it's pretty impossible to tell, but I have seen video and pictures of at least a few civilians dead.
Israel has of course responded with airstrikes and is sending the troops to fight the infiltration teams. Those battles are ongoing and it isn't clear how long they will take and if they will succeed or not. I don't know what the Palestinians goals are, they may be suicide squads out to cause as much chaos as possible before they are destroyed. But if not, I can't imagine they are going to stay and fight for long. Despite the, quite frankly, brilliant surprise attack, it will not take long for Israel to regroup and deploy its forces.
What is shocking about this is that nobody seemed to have a clue that this was going to happen. I am pretty tuned into international news and Israel vs Palestine was not a conflict on my radar right now. Serbia? Sure. Armenia and Azerbaijan? Also sure. But this conflict? It kind of came out of nowhere right? I mean, most of the news we have been hearing about Israel has been positive as it warms in relations with the Arab world. That obviously didn't include Palestine but still.
This was a major Israeli intelligence failure and I would not be surprised if heads roll for this, metaphorically or otherwise. A huge coordinated offensive like this doesn't just happen out of the blue, there are major preparations that go into it and that is something that should have been spotted by the Israelis (and by the United States as well). The fact that it wasn't is probably a testament to Hamas, but still, it's almost unbelievable that the Israelis didn't know this was coming. It's not quite on the scale of Pearl Harbor or 9/11 here in the United States, but it's close.
Speaking of the United States, this is not something we need right now. America has enough problems and it's very possible that this conflict could grow larger. From what I understand Hezbollah is praising the attack and it's very possible that Iran could get involved as well. That could draw both Russia and the United States into the war due to alliances, and boom, we get World War III. That scenario is, to be frank, unlikely, but it certainly is something to keep an eye on.
As for the war itself, I think Israel will "win" if anyone ever wins in wars between Israel and her Muslim neighbors. They have the advantage in technology, weapons and troops while Hamas just had the advantage of surprise. It will be a tough war though and one with no clear endgame at this point. If Hezbollah joins the fighting it would be a lot closer and if Iran does? Well, then all bets are off.
And a final note, I might be the only person that is not very invested in who wins the conflict. But man, if you go on Twitter right now it's a mess. People really hate both sides of the conflict even when it doesn't really affect them directly (at least not yet). I personally hate the propaganda on both sides, neither side is totally right and neither side is totally wrong. I'm just glad it's happening over there and not here.
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