Another missed opportunity in Gaza, the dawn did not break: Haaretz
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Israeli newspaper Haaretz refers to the failure of "Israel" to destroy the ability of the PIJ to manufacture and launch rockets and to put it out of business completely.
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Haaretz: Another missed opportunity in Gaza, the dawn did not break
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper published an article written by Israel Harel, in which he evaluated the results of the recent Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and talked about the speculations raised regarding the possible results in the event of a confrontation with Hamas and Hezbollah.
Below is an excerpt of the article translated into English:
"A transient, temporary, fleeting organization," is how the security establishment described the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement, which terrified many Israelis this week. An organization capable of mass-producing and launching rocket-propelled grenades deep into our lands, and they called it "transient?"
It is true that "Israel" surprised the PIJ with a pre-emptive strike that targeted a number of its leaders and eliminated some of them. However, the preemptive strike did not succeed in destroying the PIJ's ability to manufacture and launch rockets on settlements, nor did it break their spirit. Most definitely, though, the Israeli strike on Gaza failed to eliminate the PIJ from the equation of future confrontations.
Furthermore, the results of the battle in which an army equipped with the most advanced air, sea, land, and electronic equipment fighting a "transient organization" are disappointing.
We can only hypothesize on the possible damages that could result from a combined Hamas-Hezbollah full-blown confrontation with "Israel". With more than 12 combat brigades and tens of thousands of long-range rockets and missiles, high-precision missiles, the arsenal available for use amongst the two is capable of inflicting heavy losses on "Israel" in terms of casualties as well as paralyzing transportation, destroying public and military infrastructure, as well as disrupting air and sea ports.
During this opportunity brought upon us by the PIJ, it would have been possible to eliminate the PIJ by greenlighting operations for the armored corps, infantry corps, and combat engineering corps. Had this happened, then Hezbollah and Hamas would have been taken by surprise in light of the change in the Israeli strategy: resolution, no more containment.
However, without a willingness to activate such forces, the armies of Hamas and Hezbollah will not be defeated, and "Israel" will be under the threat of rockets forever.
If the government of Yair Lapid, and the same is true of the governments of Benjamin Netanyahu, had long-term strategic thinking, it would have been possible last week to start steering away from the concept of containment towards seeking a resolution.
Another opportunity was missed, and the dawn did not break again.
