All have heard about the Hamas surprise attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. This apocalyptic attack on the Zionist state by a weak group was such a surprise that it had never been dreamed of. After this invasion, Israel declared a state of war and started a series of counterattacks on Gaza. According to reports so far, thousands of people have lost their lives on both sides, and most of them are civilians. According to the UN, in the already-besieged territory of Gaza, more than 250,000 people have become homeless. Food, water, and electricity supplies to Gaza have also been suspended.
The question is, why did Hamas finally decide to launch such a big attack?
When did they have a good idea of their abilities in front of a big military power like Israel?
Wasn’t it like kicking yourself in the foot?
Considering the magnitude and intensity of this attack, the thought of Israel’s so-called intelligence comes to mind as to where it was. Wasn’t this attack being prepared for months? Wasn’t this the failure of Israel’s state-of-the-art defence system, Iron Dome?
After the attack, Hamas initially claimed it was a response to the desecration of the Al-Aqsa mosque by Israeli forces. Hama also cited the blockade of Gaza and ongoing Israeli atrocities in the West Bank, as justification for the operation.
Can Hamas afford long-term war or not? It is difficult to give an opinion on this. Looking at the severity of the attack and subsequent action, it is known that Hamas must have a big plan and is in the mood to fight a long battle, because according to the military leader of Hamas, the scope of this operation is not only limited to Gaza. Rather it will extend to Jerusalem and the West Bank. On the other hand, looking at the response of the Muslim world and the powerful military of Israel, it does not look like that at all. Gaza is completely at the mercy of Israel for food, water, electricity, and fuel. Therefore Hamas does not seem to be able to afford a long war in such a situation. Yes, in exchange for hostages, Hamas may free some of the Palestinians from captivity as they had been doing before
Also, the growing number of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank is being presented by Palestinians as a justification. The number of settlements of Israelis in the West Bank since 1967 has reached 279 as of 2023, and all these are illegal settlements. They are declared illegal by Palestine and its supporting countries. Rather, the UN and many other Western countries have also declared them illegal. These are the justifications presented by Palestinians. But regarding the timing of such an operation, experts also give some more reasons.
Who is behind this? Let’s find out. Seeing the behaviour of Arab countries, which is not as aggressive towards Israel as it was a few decades ago, now these countries are racing to improve their relations with Israel, and because of this, the issue of Palestine seems to be weakening. According to some recent reports, the fear of this has also been expressed. The improvement of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel is in the final stages. It was quite possible that Saudi Arabia would have recognized Israel.
After this happens, the already fading problem of Palestine will receive a strong blow. Therefore, it was probably the main reason behind this attack, as per the experts, because after this, it will not be possible for Saudi Arabia to take any step against Israel to help the Palestinians. Just because of the expected reaction of the people. It is not too difficult to know the growing closeness of Arabs to Israel.
From their response to the recent actions of Hamas, the Western countries, the USA, Great Britain, and many others have condemned this attack on Israel and have announced to stand by and support it.
The response of Arabs can be described as mixed. Help is far away, and perhaps the condemnation is not visible in words. Iran was the only country in the Muslim world that openly supported the invasion. Another reason behind the attack at this time could be to take advantage of the deteriorating political reputation of the Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli PM has come under fire for moves to limit the power of the Israeli Supreme Court, and protests have been recorded against him in Israel. Therefore, in the meantime, after such an operation, the circle in Israel became narrower for the Prime Minister, and he may have to leave the government too. Because it is a failure for Israel anyway.
However, it can also have the opposite effect. After the Israeli counterattack and the expected defeat of Hamas, a right-wing leader with hatred for Palestinians, Netanyahu can become the favourite of Israelis, and the land becomes even tighter for Palestinians. And Gaza may go back under the control of Israel. After such a large-scale attack by Hamas, experts also raised questions about Israel’s intelligence. A very small area like Gaza faces a complete blockade by land and sea routes.
The question is worth asking: how does Hamas carry out major operations?
It would be fair to say that the Hamas attack was a major failure of Israeli intelligence. This is true to a large extent. This is also the opinion of Western and American experts. According to reports, Egypt had warned the Israeli forces about the possible attack three days before the attack which was ignored.
Rather, a colonel of the Israeli army also confirmed that there was already information about the attack. According to him, the Israeli intelligence force made a mistake in correctly assessing the strength of the enemy. He expressed his apprehension about this. There has been no major action in Gaza in the last few months. There was peace. So if anything was expected, it was not on such a large scale. So this was a mistake made by the intelligence agencies anyway.
Netanyahu’s opponents believe that in the recent past, his focus has been crushing resistance in the West Bank and creating new settlements. Therefore he had to remove some focus from Gaza. So the government responsible for the attack is also being blamed. Despite the blockade of Israel and Egypt on all sides. If Hamas lives in only 365 square km of Gaza, this operation was planned and carried out successfully. So this operation is the failure of Israeli intelligence agencies anyway.
Talking about the Israeli defence system, Iron Dome. Its success rate in the past was more than 90 percent. How did it fail?
According to experts, this attack cannot called a complete failure of the “Iron Dome “. They say that the missile fire from Gaza is so much that the system was overloaded and intercepting that many rockets became beyond the capability of the system.
Can Hamas afford long-term war or not? It is difficult to give an opinion on this. Looking at the severity of the attack and subsequent action, it is known that Hamas must have a big plan and is in the mood to fight a long battle, because according to the military leader of Hamas, the scope of this operation is not only limited to Gaza. Rather it will extend to Jerusalem and the West Bank.
On the other hand, looking at the response of the Muslim world and the powerful military of Israel, it does not look like that at all. Gaza is completely at the mercy of Israel for food, water, electricity, and fuel. Therefore Hamas does not seem to be able to afford a long war in such a situation. Yes, in exchange for hostages, Hamas may free some of the Palestinians from captivity as they had been doing before.
