What Hamas Has Achieved And Lost In The Latest War With Israel
By New Age Islam Staff Writer
21 October 2023
Israel Has Not Been Able To Do Much Except Bombing
Civilians In Frustration
Main Points:
1.
Israel list 1,300
civilians in Hamas attacks.
2.
The casualties in
Gaza have crossed 4,000.
3.
Hamas have held 200
hostages including Israeli soldiers.
4.
Palestine issue
attracted global attention.
5.
It affected
political and diplomatic relations of the world.
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Supporters of Israel
protest outside the headquarters of the BBC in London, October 16, 2023. © Daniel Leal / AFP
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The ground offensive in Gaza by the Israeli forces may not
start in near future as the United States and European countries have told
Israel to wait and watch. The IDF has surrounded Gaza with hundreds of tanks
and more than three lakh Israeli soldiers and reservationists. The ground
offensive was supposed to start after American citizens trapped in Gaza were
allowed to go out through Rafah border in exchange for 20 trucks carrying food
and medicines into Gaza. The United Nations had said that the process would
take two days as the border road was to be repaired. During Biden's Israel
visit, the US had an agreement with Egypt under which Egypt will open Rafah
exit for Americans trapped in Gaza to exit Gaza and the US would allow only 20
trucks carrying humanitarian aid to go into Gaza provided the aid material is
not snatched by Hamas. However, even after Biden's commitment, the Israeli
government has said it will not allow any aid into Gaza. The spokesperson of
IDF said that no aid would be allowed into Gaza. This means that the US
citizens will also not be able to walk out of Gaza. The US is also
contemplating rescuing them via sea.
Earlier offensives by Hamas were largely one sided as they
caused minimum damage to Israel and suffered heavy onslaught and casualties in
Gaza. The world took it as a routine affair. In response, Israel pounded
civilians and damaged residential areas.
In this war, Hamas though lost some of its leaders and
commanders, was successful on a number of fronts. It succeeded in taking the
war to Israel's doors and caused damage and casualties inside Israel's mainland
and occupied Gaza. On its surprise attacks, it caused 1300 casualties inside
the occupied Gaza. They also held 199 Israeli' hostages. Israel had to evacuated
development towns near Gaza border, the areas that were once part of Gaza
Strip. In the initial offensive, Hamas fighters, the ' worst monsters on Earth,
according to self proclaimed 'angel' Netanyahu, recaptured about 25 towns and
villages which were later 'freed' by the IDF. However, Jewish settlers have not
been able to return to their occupied towns for the fear of hostilities.
Ashekelon, Sderot and Kiryat Shmona are some of the towns that have been
evacuated by the IDF anticipating bigger war. Ahkelon is situated 13 kilometres
from Gaza border. Today Gaza Strip is only 12 kilometre wide at the widest point
while Ashkelon, an occupied territory s 13 kilometre from Gaza. It means,
Israel has occupied a large part of Gaza and reduced it to half. Israel had
also to evacuate towns situated on Lebanon border due to escalation of war with
Lebanon. Many towns of Israel have turned into ghost towns for the fear of war.
The residents have been taken to government guest houses and don 't know how
long they would have to remain there.
This something Israelis had not anticipated. Israel showed
agression against the Gazans because they knew the Palestinian resistance
groups did not have the strength to disturb the daily life of the Israelis. The
Israeli soldiers abducted Gazans regularly and tortured them. They dragged
children out of their homes just for throwing stones. Often people of Gaza
would be killed by trigger-happy Israeli soldiers for putting up resistance
while the world looked on. The Muslim countries like Qatar and UAE went on with
normalisation of relations with Israel and ignored the plight and pain of the
Palestinians. Saudi Arabia also had started normalisation of relations with
Israel at the behest of the US president Biden. The normalisation of relations
of Saudi Arabia with Israel would have completed the isolation of Palestinians.
Hamas scuttled the process by striking at the right time.
The war this time has changed the way Israel and the western
world saw and treated Palestine. It also laid bare the hypocrisy of the US and
the western world. The war has also changed diplomatic alignments of the
countries of the world. This time the conflict did not remain confined to the
Gaza but became a global political issue. It dragged the US and Russia into a
direct confrontation. Iran and Turkey have also flexed their muscles against
Israel. In fact Iran has threatened to atack Israel in case of a ground
offensive in Gaza. The US sent its aircraft carriers into the Mediterranean Sea
with its soldiers to protect Israel. Turkey objected to it and sent its warship
also to the Mediterranean Sea and held a naval exercise to deter the US. The
Houthis of Bahrain have also jumped into the conflict. Hamas, Houthis and
Hezbollah threaten Israel while Iran will intervene in case of a ground
offensive. And when Syria is attacked, can Russia be far behind?
These are the reasons that the US has asked Israel to delay
its ground offensive in Gaza. The world has condemned Israel's bombing of
innocent civilians. Israel has not allowed Gazans food, medicine, water and
electricity in violation of international laws. The Jews have faced attacks
outside Israel, particularly in Europe. They don't feel safe either in Israel
or in Europe. This why the Jews all over the world have been protesting
Israel's aggression this time. They remained silent as long as they felt secure
in Israel and the world, they came out in protest in Israel and in the US. For
the last 75 years, they did not feel the pain of the Palestinians because they
felt at home.
According to reports, 15 lakh people of Iran have registered
to participate in the war against Israel. Jordanians have already shown their
resolve to fight together with the people of Gaza. People from Egypt, Lebanon,
Iraq, Syria and other neighbouring states may join the free for all when the
ground offensive begins. It will be a dangerous scenario. The bombing of the Al
Ahli al Arabi hospital has caused a widespread anger among the Muslims of the
world. This is a dangerous scenario which may trigger a large scale war if not
the WW3.
The US and Israel understand this and so they have decided
to delay the ground offensive.
As for Hamas, they had nothing to lose. As a militant group,
they will continue to fight irrespective of what the outcome of the war might
be. But for Israel, things will never be the same, a fact even the Israelis
acknowledge. They may not be able to return to the occupied towns of Gaza for a
long time.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/hamas-war-israel/d/130949
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