Caught between head and heart
On Monday night, Israel
was caught between its head and its heart. Its heart demanded a harsh
response to the three deadly incidents which were the direct result of
Hamas' impudent decision to violate the very cease-fire that it, itself,
had sought. Israel's head, on the other hand, knew that the Israel
Defense Forces should remain focused on the goal of Operation Protective
Edge -- the destruction of the tunnels -- and that expanding the
operation would get Israel sucked into a dangerous vortex in the
international diplomatic arena.
The high level of IDF
casualties on Monday did not in fact reflect the intensity of the
fighting in Gaza. Only one Israeli soldier was killed inside Gaza. He
was killed in an anti-tank missile strike on an engineering vehicle in
southern Gaza (eight terrorists were killed in this incident when an
bulldozer knocked down the house in which they were located).
The other two incidents
in which Israeli soldiers were killed took place inside Israel. In one
of these incidents, four Armored Corps soldiers were killed in a mortar
strike on a staging area near the border -- a well-known vulnerability
point for the IDF. During the Second Lebanon War, twelve reservists were
killed by a Katyusha rocket that struck a staging area near Kfar
Giladi. Due to this, IDF staging areas were moved further from the
border during Operation Cast Lead and Operation Pillar of Defense.
However, the nature of Operation Protective Edge has required troops to
be assembled closer to the border, despite the risks. The border area
has been closed to civilians in an effort to prevent casualties from
rockets and mortars.
The other incident took
place Monday night, when terrorists infiltrated into Israel via a
tunnel near the southern part of the Karni Crossing, not far from Nahal
Oz. The IDF had previously identified the tunnel, but it had yet to be
destroyed. The shaft from which the terrorists emerged had not been
previously identified. Unlike earlier tunnel attacks, Monday's attack
occurred without a prior intelligence warning. One of the terrorists was
killed, while the rest apparently fled back to Gaza. Five Israeli
soldiers were killed in the incident.
This sequence of events
and their results increased the pressure on Israel to intensify its
military operation in Gaza. Several government ministers joined the
growing public call for tougher action against Hamas. On Monday, these
ministers called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convene the
Cabinet, not just the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet (where there is a 5-3
majority supporting Netanyahu's more restrained approach) in an effort
to compel Netanyahu to expand the ground operation in Gaza. It is
unlikely this effort will succeed, as the trio managing the military
operation (Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and IDF Chief of
Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz) are continuing to stick to the goal that was
set for the operation -- the destruction of the tunnels.
On Monday night, the
Israeli Air Force intensified its activities in Gaza, and the residents
of some Gaza neighborhoods (Shujaiyya, Jabaliya and Zeitoun) were told
to leave their homes to avoid potential harm. But it appeared this was
primarily an attempt by Israel to get Gazans to put pressure on Hamas to
halt the fighting. However, if Hamas continues to act against Israel
with the same intensity as it did on Monday, this could shuffle the deck
and demand the broadening of the IDF ground operation.
Israel believes that
the window for the military operation is limited; not only because of
the discordant noises coming from the Americans and the open criticism
coming from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (who compared the
destruction in Gaza to a "man-made hurricane"), but also because of
growing concerns over international investigations and anti-Israel U.N.
Security Council resolutions. All of this points to the likelihood that
Israel will be satisfied with destroying the tunnels and then
unilaterally pulling its troops out of Gaza, with no formal cease-fire
arrangement or understandings.
Before Monday's events, it
appeared that the IDF might be able to complete the tunnel destruction
process by the end of the coming week. But, given the reality on the
ground, mainly the discovery of additional tunnels that must be
destroyed, that time frame might have to be extended a few days -- a
known recipe for entanglement. In the current situation, as I have
written before, Israel must take the initiative and not act passively.
This is vital for victory on the battlefield, as well as in the fight
for hearts and minds.
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