- Hubert Walas
A month after indiscriminate rocket attacks and a terrorist assault by Hamas militants on Israeli settlements, the Israeli army has cut the Gaza Strip in half, encircled the Gaza City and is standing at its gates.
27.10.2023 - 29.10.2023
After amassing thousands of pieces of military equipment in a closed military zone near the Gaza border, Israeli ground forces entered the Gaza Strip on 27 October. 20 days after the first Hamas attacks on Israel.
Israel Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said that IDF ground forces, backed by heavy artillery fire, entered the Gaza Strip to eliminate Hamas, secure the border and rescue hostages.
IDF forces attacked from the northwest, along the Al Rashid Street. In this footage, we see Israeli Merkava tanks attacking the Gaza Strip from the beaches.
The second axis of attack was Beit Hanoun, where the Al-Qassem Brigades - the militant wing of Hamas - attacked IDF forces with anti-tank missiles.
The same thing happened about 15 kilometres to the south, east of Bureij, where the Israelis opened a third axis of attack. The aim was to cut the Gaza Strip in half and isolate Gaza City. Hamas official Ali Bakara said Palestinian fighters used anti-tank missiles to repel the attack. Palestinian media and the Axis of Resistance also reported that Palestinian fighters destroyed two Merkava tanks.
30.11.2023
The IDF carried out further clearing operations over the next 2 days. On 30 October, Israeli equipment was spotted moving from Juhor ad Dik to the Salah al Din road in Gaza, after which the Israelis withdrew from the road. Clashes also took place northwest of Beit Lahiya.
01.11.2023
On 1 November, Israeli armoured units continued to advance in the northwest of the Gaza Strip, south along the coast to Salah Khalaf Street. They then attempted to move eastwards inland towards al Naser and al Toum streets. Israel was already at the gates of Gaza City.
Hamas attacked the IDF north-east of the city, near Beit Hanoun. The al-Qassem Brigades claimed that its fighters had destroyed at least four Israeli Merkava tanks using Yasin-105 anti-tank weapons.
The IDF also extended its presence south of Gaza City towards the west. An Israeli armoured unit was deployed west of al Mughraq. It was then only a matter of hours before Gaza City was cut off from the rest of the Strip.
02.11.2023
And indeed, on 2 November, an IDF presence was reported on the coastal road west of the Tika hospital.
Iranian and Palestinian Axis of Resistance sources reported that Israeli forces were continuing their assault on Beit Hanoun. By this time, the Israelis had merged the Beit Hanoun axis to the north-west axis along the beach. The aim remained to encircle Beit Hanoun.
Meanwhile, Palestinian militias in the Gaza Strip continued to launch indirect fire attacks on Israeli territory adjacent to the southern Gaza Strip, in an attempt to tie up the IDF force there.
03.11.2023
On 3 November, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari confirmed that the Israelis were encircling Gaza from the air, land and sea. The IDF reported that its forces had recently seized a Hamas military stronghold used by Nukhba - the naval special forces unit of Hamas's militant wing - and Hamas's operational intelligence headquarters in Jabaliya.
In a related development, a photo released by the IDF a few hours later showed Hamas' defence plans for the north-western part of Jabaliya. The Institute for the Study of War notes that "the Captured Hamas plans suggest that Hamas has not heavily committed to defending parts of the northern outskirts of Gaza City, which may indicate that Hamas units in parts of that area are screening for a main defensive effort in central Gaza City.The map appears to show an area of Hamas responsibility between al Toam and Falouja roads, west of Jabaliya'.
Meanwhile, the al-Qassem Brigades have been using anti-tank munitions and their intricate network of tunnels under the Gaza Strip to ambush IDF forces.
There were also the first reports of clashes in the Gaza City neighbourhoods of Zaytoun and Shujaia.
04.11.2023
The following day, Israeli forces advanced, mainly along the north-western sector of the Gaza coast. The city was also encircled from the south, and the IDF reached the Tal al Hawa neighbourhood.
05.11.2023
On 5 November, the IDF confirmed that it had divided the Gaza Strip into two parts. The Israelis continued their assault on Tal al Hawa, where the Al-Qassem Brigades claimed to have halted the Israeli advance. The National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, attacked Israeli forces and fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli vehicles southeast of the Zaytoun district and south of Gaza City.
06.11.2023
Commercially available satellite imagery from 6 November shows a flattened area between Sultan and al Toam roads, indicating that Israeli tanks or bulldozers were operating in the Sultan neighbourhood, south of Beit Lahiya. Palestinian militias claimed to have engaged IDF forces operating near the al Shati refugee camp on 6 November. According to the Palestinians, Israeli air strikes targeted the camp on the same day.
In the information war, the IDF sought to respond to the Palestinian allegations, providing evidence that Hamas was using civilian facilities, such as Hamad Hospital, for military operations. Videos show Hamas fighters firing small arms fire at the IDF from the hospital.
07.11.2023
The following day, Israeli military equipment was seen west of Tal al Hawa on al Rashid Street. In the north - Israeli forces entered the northern outskirts of al Shati refugee camp. Clearing operations also continued in Beit Hanoun.
On 7 November, exactly one month after the first Hamas attacks, Israeli forces were close to encircling the city, but this does not mean the end of the fighting is near. On the contrary.
In a ground campaign that lasted more than a week, the IDF made rapid advances in three sectors. Gaza has been cut in half, but the IDF remains committed to clearing operations outside the city.
As ISW notes "The US military doctrine defines clearing operation as an operation that requires the commander to remove all enemy forces and eliminate organised resistance within an assigned area. Clearing operations frequently take weeks and sometimes months to complete. Enemy counterattacks will often persist throughout a clearing operation until the clearing force has successfully eliminated organized resistance in its sector. "
IDF troops are currently concentrating their efforts on capturing command and control centres and driving Hamas members out of their hideouts on the outskirts of the crowded city, some of which are located near or under the enclave's overburdened hospitals.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement that "there are many days of fighting ahead. This war is different from previous ones. It will take time." He added that those responsible for the 7 October atrocities "will not continue to exist". "We will bring Hamas to a state from which it will not be able to recover," he added.
The IDF must also remain focused on two other directions. The first is the West Bank, where there are minor clashes between Palestinian militias and Israelis. More important, however, is the northern border with Lebanon. There, Israel has established a closed evacuation zone. Lebanese Hezbollah and the al Qassem Brigades are carrying out cross-border attacks on Israeli territory there. The prospect of a full-blown attack by Hezbollah cannot be ruled out either.
Both fronts serve to draw Israeli resources and capabilities away from Gaza.
Since the start of the war, the Americans and British have conducted extensive reconnaissance operations in the region, as shown by images from Orion Intel. The Americans have also flown over the Gaza Strip itself using the MQ 9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle.
The IDF said that 30 soldiers have been killed and several others wounded since the ground offensive began almost a fortnight ago. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Sanitation Authority said on Monday that the attacks had killed more than 10,000 people, including many women and children.
There are still thousands of civilians in Gaza City. Israel released footage showing an evacuation corridor moving south.
International pressure on Israel remains strong. Arab media reports that 16 of Gaza's 35 hospitals are out of fuel, or 46% of them. They are supposed to house 50,000 pregnant women. Palestinians claim that Israel is attacking civilian infrastructure. Israel responds that Hamas is using it for military purposes and that it is trying to limit civilian casualties.
The US, as well as G7 foreign ministers, are calling for a 'humanitarian pause' in the war between Israel and Hamas to allow vital supplies to be delivered to desperate civilians in Gaza. In an interview with ABC News on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to give in to these pressures, saying that Israel could pause its campaign for "an hour here, an hour there" to allow aid to flow through the Strip.
What will happen to Gaza if the IDF operation is successful?
Netanyahu said that Israel would have "overall responsibility for security" in Gaza "for an indefinite period of time" after the war against Hamas ends. However, he did not give details on what Israeli security oversight in Gaza would consist of and whether it would include a long-term military presence.
Sources:
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-october-28-2023
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-october-29-2023
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-october-30-2023
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-november-1-2023
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-november-2-2023
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-november-3-2023
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-november-4-2023
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-november-5-2023
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-november-6-2023
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-november-7-2023
