Amos Harel, a military analyst in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, claimed on Wednesday that the Hamas movement has lost the strongholds of power in Gaza, but at the same time he pointed out that the Israeli occupation army has not yet taken control of the Strip, despite the destructive force it is using.

While he said that the army completed the occupation of the Beach refugee camp located west of Gaza City yesterday, he pointed out that battles and clashes sometimes broke out as the occupation forces searched for resistance fighters and weapons.

The writer also pointed out the Israeli army’s control over a number of symbols of Hamas’ rule in Gaza City, including the Legislative Council building, the “security square,” and others, questioning the possibility of Hamas regaining its civilian control in the northern Gaza Strip in the near future.

The newspaper quoted the commander of the 162nd Division in the occupation army, Itzik Cohen, as saying that the army created “conditions that allow the dismantling of the military and authoritarian capabilities of Hamas in Gaza City.” Cohen and other officers in the occupation army present in the northern Gaza Strip believe that "the war is progressing as planned."

The newspaper also added that the army "is working methodically in the vicinity of hospitals in Gaza under the guidance of Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy," after Hamas allegedly used the hospitals and the areas underneath them as headquarters and hiding places for its members.

The military analyst pointed out that the arrival of winter increases the difficulties and risks facing the Israeli occupation soldiers in the Gaza Strip, "but it is not the only source of danger."

He added that after about two and a half weeks of ground forces being in the Gaza Strip, “there is a risk that the forces will enter a state of stagnation (almost completely stop advancing) and thus become more vulnerable. Sometimes a prolonged stay also compromises operational aspects.” "This exposes the forces to harm."

According to the newspaper, the occupation army officers fear several potential threats, most notably the exposure of soldiers to anti-armor missiles and the bombing of homes, adding that within the dense areas in the center of Gaza City there is also a need to take shelter from shooting operations from inside multi-storey buildings.

Fears come from the possibility of Hamas establishing new sites in buildings damaged by Israeli air strikes, enabling it to snipe Israeli soldiers and fire anti-armor missiles at them.

The military analyst stated that from an operational standpoint, the Israeli army has not yet worked in the eastern neighborhoods of Gaza City nor in the neighborhoods located in its center, and that it continues to focus its efforts on the tunnels in an attempt to develop practical solutions to destroy them quickly.

In recent days, Israeli Security Minister Yoav Galant indicated his optimism about the occupation army's capabilities to accelerate the attack on tunnels and the pace of Hamas's loss of control over the northern Gaza Strip, according to his claims.

The Israeli writer says, “The Hamas movement no longer has political and civil control over this region. As for military capabilities, it is clear that the two brigades run by the organization in the northern Gaza Strip and in Gaza City have been severely damaged, and the chain of command in them is only partially functioning. As for the brigades, The other three are in refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip, in Khan Yunis and Rafah. They sustained only minor damage, and they still maintain continuous command and control.”

The newspaper "Haaretz" quoted an unnamed officer, whom it described as senior, that the resistance fighters in the northern Gaza Strip in general "are now active in relatively small groups of up to ten people, and that they are reducing the fighting during the night hours. In the early morning hours, after dawn prayers, they launch a march to examine what has changed." "In the Israeli army's preparations around them and they are trying to launch attacks."

The newspaper also indicated that the firing of rockets from the northern Gaza Strip towards Israel has almost completely stopped.

In this context, it is noteworthy that one of the missile attacks yesterday caused the injury of three people in the Tel Aviv area, and the wounds of one of them were described as serious.

The Hebrew newspaper stated that the extent of the destruction in the Gaza Strip is not fully reflected in what is broadcast on Israeli television channels.

Despite the massive destruction, the obliteration of entire areas, and the death of more than 10,000 Palestinians, Israeli occupation army officers insist, according to the newspaper, that the army “did not come to level Gaza to the ground, but rather to subjugate Hamas.”

Since the occupation forces entered the Strip, the newspaper says, “heavy fire has been used to protect it, even at the expense of harming Palestinian civilians who may be present nearby.”

Source: Alaraby Aljadeed