Sunday Times: Has Israel set itself an impossible military mission?

Michael Clarke, professor of defense studies at King's College London, says that the Israeli military goal in the Gaza war, "Hamas must be destroyed," which its politicians and leaders constantly repeat, has become a national slogan that faces enormous obstacles.

Clark emphasized - in an article in the Sunday Times newspaper, in which he talked about the challenges faced by Israel's attempt to destroy the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" - that the Israeli army will either have to reformulate its goal, "Hamas must be destroyed," or think of ways to achieve it that do not lead to annihilate the population of Gaza.

He explained that Israel can defeat Hamas, but destroying it will be a different matter, and this challenge is likely to increase as the Israeli campaign continues.

Israel cannot

The defense studies professor added that the most important strategic decision taken by any government is the first decision. Israel has taken action, and the broader consequences will come in due course. It will have to make a second crucial strategic decision when it looks to southern Gaza.

Clark said that "destroying Hamas" amid a stressed and suffering civilian population would require unique thinking. In such circumstances, most of the leaders of the ancient world would resort to direct massacre, but contemporary military leaders cannot do that because this war will trigger political events that Israel will find difficult to control, and it will find itself forced to develop new methods of urban warfare and combating “insurgency” if it wants. "Destroying" Hamas among this population.

An unprecedented situation

Clark pointed out that the area of the Gaza Strip, which is 360 square kilometers, makes it very small, yet 2.3 million people are trapped inside it without the possibility of escape. He said that there are no examples in modern history - neither Mosul, nor Fallujah, nor Mariupol in Ukraine, nor Grozny in Chechnya, nor Kandahar in Afghanistan, nor Saigon in Vietnam or Phnom Penh in Cambodia - provide similar situations from the battlefield. There is very little opportunity for civilians to escape, if they choose, before a superior military force attacks.

Even Berlin in 1945 gave German civilians some opportunities to escape west and throw themselves at the mercy of American and British forces rather than confront the advancing Russians.

The defense studies professor emphasized that the Palestinians in Gaza have no chance of escape, and since more than half of the northern population has bypassed the Gaza Valley, Israel will have to confront the southern battlefield, which has a population of about 1.8 million people with a density approaching 10,000 people per square kilometer.

Unless it's done quickly

Clark concluded his article by saying, “If Hamas must be destroyed, this is not possible unless it is done quickly,” adding that what complicates Israel’s position is that the Lebanese Hezbollah will enter into a direct confrontation with Israel, and if Hamas survives in any tangible way, it will win. It has a good opportunity to witness the broader war against Israel that it may have hoped to spark when it launched its attack on October 7th.