Israeli tanks move into position near Mavki'im, Israel, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023.
srael has amassed 100,000 troops as well as a number of tanks on the border to Gaza as part of a likely build-up for an anticipated land attack on Gaza. The army is mobilizing a total of 360,000 reservists, even as airstrikes have hammered the Gaza Strip in the days following the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s surprise attack that killed more than 900 Israelis.
The Israeli Security Cabinet announced on Oct. 8 that the goal of Israel’s military operation “is to achieve the destruction of the military and governing capabilities of Hamas.” If Israeli troops do get sent in, they face an adversary in Hamas that knows the terrain and has a track record of hiding behind the civilian population, making military action more difficult. “Gaza is particularly challenging and you’ve had an adversary who has probably spent the last decade and a half since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip preparing for such a moment,” says Eisenstadt.
That could still change as the conflict drags on. In 2011, Israel exchanged more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for a single captive Israeli soldier. Bothare reportedly holding talks with Hamas and Israel in the hopes of arranging a possible prisoner swap. But so far, Israeli officials haveHamas may also decide to use the hostages as human shields, spreading them out across key military locations in an attempt to protect Hamas strongholds from Israeli strikes, warns Richemond-Barak.
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