Has Israel invaded Gaza? The military has been vague, even if its objectives are clear

This picture taken on October 31, 2023 from a position near Sderot along the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel shows an Israeli tank rolling amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Updated 01 November 2023
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Has Israel invaded Gaza? The military has been vague, even if its objectives are clear

  • Israel has set two objectives: the return of all hostages and the destruction of Hamas, a militant group armed with thousands of fighters, rockets, bombs, anti-tank missiles and significant public support

GAZA: Over the past five days, Israeli ground troops have pushed deeper and deeper into Gaza in their war against Hamas, launched in response to a bloody Oct. 7 cross-border raid by the Islamic militant group.
A growing array of units, including naval, air and ground forces, have joined the effort. The army says it has killed scores of militants and damaged Hamas’ strategic tunnel network. Soldiers have taken over abandoned Palestinian homes to stake out positions.
Yet even as the operation expands each day, the army refuses to call it an invasion.
Its vague choice of words is more than an issue of semantics. It appears to be a deliberate strategy aimed at keeping its enemy off balance and preserving its options as a lengthy war unfolds.
Here is a closer look at what Israel is doing inside Gaza.
IS IT AN INVASION?
In the classic sense of the word, an Israeli invasion appears to be underway.




Israeli security forces inspect the damage at a residential building after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashdod, southern Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023. (AP)

Ground forces have moved into enemy territory and operated continuously since last Friday. While the army has given few specifics about the operations, it has acknowledged that tanks, artillery, infantry, bulldozers and special forces have taken part, all backed by aerial support.
The army has been vague about the location or size of its forces. But its announcements indicate that thousands of troops have joined the effort, with those numbers seeming to grow by the day.
The Palestinians have used far stronger language, referring to Israel’s ongoing bombing with terms like “massacre” and “genocide.” The ongoing offensive has killed over 8,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, and reduced thousands of buildings to rubble.
WHAT DOES THE ARMY CALL IT?
The army refuses to say it has invaded Gaza, referring to its activities as “raids” and “operations.”
This reflects what is a fluid situation, as the number of troops fluctuates and, for the time being at least, Israel avoids trying to overwhelm Hamas with an overpowering number of ground troops.
These tactics appear to be aimed at confusing Hamas and leaving options for further action open. Still, Israel has made clear it will maintain a presence inside Gaza for a long time to come.
Over the weekend, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that operation had moved into a new phase.
“We have reached a new stage in the war,” Gallant said. “The ground in Gaza is shaking. The operation will continue until a new order.”
While visiting troops on Tuesday, Gallant added: “We are deploying forces on a large scale in the depths of Gaza.”
WHAT IS THE PLAN?
Israel has set two objectives: the return of all hostages and the destruction of Hamas, a militant group armed with thousands of fighters, rockets, bombs, anti-tank missiles and significant public support.
Israel’s chief military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, routinely refers to a methodical plan to achieve these goals, even if he does not call it an invasion. “Our offensive operations will continue and intensify according to plan,” he said Tuesday.
Amir Avivi, a retired general and former deputy commander of the military’s Gaza division, says the vague terminology is intentional. “They don’t want the enemy to know what they are doing,” he said.
But Avivi, who now heads the Israel Defense and Security Forum, a group of hawkish former military commanders, said it is clear what will be needed to achieve the objectives.
“There is only one way to do this. They will have to conquer the whole Gaza Strip and spend months and months and months dismantling all the capabilities,” he said. “What does it matter what the army is saying?”

 


Turkiye’s foreign minister visits Athens to help mend ties between the regional rivals

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Turkiye’s foreign minister visits Athens to help mend ties between the regional rivals

ATHENS, Greece: Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan arrived Friday in Athens for meetings with his Greek counterpart as part of efforts to ease tension between the two neighbors and regional rivals.
Both NATO members, Greece and Turkiye have been at loggerheads for decades over a long series of issues, including volatile maritime boundary disputes that have twice led them to the brink of war. The two have renewed a diplomatic push for over a year to improve ties.
“Step by step, we have achieved a level of trust so that we can discuss issues with sincerity and prevent crises,” Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said in an interview with Turkiye’s Hurriyet newspaper published Thursday.
The meeting between the two foreign ministers follows a series of high-profile talks between Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as part of a relation-mending initiative launched in 2023.
Officials in Athens are expected to raise concerns about rising illegal migration, as Greece has seen an uptick in arrivals. And, despite deep disagreements on Israel and fighting in the Middle East, both foreign ministers are also expected to explore ways to improve regional stability.
The talks will help set the stage for a Greece-Turkiye high-level cooperation council planned for early 2025 in Ankara, Turkiye.

Turkiye’s Erdogan hopes Trump will tell Israel to “stop,” NTV reports

Updated 9 min 57 sec ago
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Turkiye’s Erdogan hopes Trump will tell Israel to “stop,” NTV reports

ANKARA: Turkiye’s President Tayyip Erdogan said that he hoped US President-elect Donald Trump will tell Israel to “stop” the attacks and halting arms support to Israel could be a good start, broadcaster NTV reported on Friday.
Trump’s presidency will seriously affect political and military balances in the Middle East region, Erdogan was quoted as telling reporters on his flight back to Turkiye from Budapest, where he attended a European Political Community summit. 


Nearly 70% of Gaza war dead women and children, UN rights office says

Updated 15 min 55 sec ago
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Nearly 70% of Gaza war dead women and children, UN rights office says

  • UN Human Rights Office: Systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law
  • The youngest victim whose death was verified by UN monitors was a one-day-old boy, and the oldest was a 97-year-old woman

GENEVA: The UN Human Rights Office said on Friday nearly 70 percent of the fatalities it has verified in the Gaza war were women and children, and condemned what it called a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.
The UN count covers the first seven months of the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip that began more than a year ago.
The 8,119 victims verified by the UN Rights Office in that seven-month period is considerably lower than the toll of over 43,000 provided by Palestinian health authorities for the full 13 months of conflict.
But the UN breakdown of the victims’ age and gender backs the Palestinian assertion that women and children represent a large portion of those killed in the war.
This finding indicates “a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including distinction and proportionality,” the UN rights office said in a statement accompanying the 32-page report.
“It is essential that there is due reckoning with respect to the allegations of serious violations of international law through credible and impartial judicial bodies and that, in the meantime, all relevant information and evidence are collected and preserved,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said.
Israel did not immediately comment on the report’s findings.
Israel’s military, which began its offensive in response to the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in which Hamas fighters killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and seized more than 250 hostages, says it takes care to avoid harming civilians in Gaza.
It has said approximately one civilian has been killed for every fighter, a ratio it blames on Hamas, saying the Palestinian militant group uses civilian facilities. Hamas has denied using civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as human shields.
YOUNGEST VICTIM AGED ONE DAY
The youngest victim whose death was verified by UN monitors was a one-day-old boy, and the oldest was a 97-year-old woman, the report said.
Overall, children represented 44 percent of the victims, with children aged five-nine representing the single biggest age category, followed by those aged 10-14, and then those aged up to and including four.
This broadly reflects the enclave’s demographics, which the report said reflected an apparent failure to take precautions to avoid civilian losses.
It showed that in 88 percent of cases, five or more people were killed in the same attack, pointing to the Israeli military’s use of weapons with an effect across a wide area, although it said some fatalities may have been the result of errant projectiles from Palestinian armed groups.


Khamenei aide warns against impulsive Iran response to Israel attack

Updated 54 min 27 sec ago
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Khamenei aide warns against impulsive Iran response to Israel attack

  • Israel is engaged in conflicts with the Iran-backed Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon
  • Israeli warplanes struck military sites in Iran on October 26 in retaliation for a large Iranian missile attack

TEHRAN: An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned against launching an “instinctive” response to Israeli air strikes on the Islamic republic last month.
Israel, Iran’s sworn enemy, is engaged in conflicts with the Iran-backed Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israeli warplanes struck military sites in Iran on October 26 in retaliation for a large Iranian missile attack on Israel at the start of the month.
“Israel aims to bring the conflict to Iran. We must act wisely to avoid its trap and not react instinctively,” the adviser, Ali Larijani, told state television late Thursday.
Iran said it fired 200 missiles at Israel on October 1 in response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was in Tehran.
After Israel hit back, it warned Iran against any counterattack, but the Islamic republic has vowed to respond.
“Our actions and reactions are strategically defined, so we must avoid instinctive or emotional responses and remain entirely rational,” Larijani added.
The former parliament speaker also praised Nasrallah for accepting a ceasefire during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war rather than making an “emotional decision.”
On Sunday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said a potential ceasefire between Tehran’s allies and Israel could affect Iran’s response to the Israeli strikes.


Hezbollah claims second attack on Israel naval base in 24 hours

Updated 08 November 2024
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Hezbollah claims second attack on Israel naval base in 24 hours

  • The group had on Thursday claimed another attack on the same area
  • Israel has been at war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah since late September

BEIRUT: Hezbollah said it targeted a naval base near the Israeli city of Haifa with missiles Friday, the second such attack in less than 24 hours.
The Iran-backed Lebanese group said it targeted the “Stella Maris” naval base northwest of Haifa with a missile barrage, “in response to the attacks and massacres committed by the Israeli enemy.”
The group had on Thursday claimed another attack on the same area.
In a separate statement, the group claimed that it had also targeted the Ramat David air base, southeast of Haifa, with missiles.
Israel has been at war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah since late September when it broadened its focus from fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip to securing its northern border.
It escalated its air campaign and later sent in ground forces into the country’s south.
This came after a year of cross-border exchanges with Hezbollah, which has said it was acting in support of Hamas Palestinian militants fighting Israel in Gaza.
The war has killed more than 2,600 people in Lebanon since September 23, according to the Lebanese health ministry.