‘One of the Most Difficult Battlefields in the World’ – Daniel Hagari’s Description of Gaza
“We took an operational plan for the war for approval by the political echelon. Within this plan, we mapped out the war, which was estimated to be about a year of fighting.”
The Israeli military’s chief spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, has described Gaza as “one of the most difficult battlefields in the world.”
Speaking at a Tel Aviv conference hosted by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Wednesday, Hagari reportedly said “I see the greatest challenge in the role I am in right now…It is very different, but it is a battlefield in itself.”
“We took an operational plan for the war for approval by the political echelon. Within this plan, we mapped out the war, which was estimated to be about a year of fighting. Within this year, we saw that we would first of all deal with Hamas’ greatest centers of power, which are mostly in northern Gaza and Khan Yunis.” he said, according to a report by the Israel National News website.
During a conference hosted by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper in Tel Aviv on 8 May, head of the Israeli army’s spokesperson unit Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari described Gaza as “one of the most difficult battlefields in the world.”
Hagari also admitted that carrying out a military… pic.twitter.com/iwAFwgSABg
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“Gaza is perhaps one of the most difficult battlefields in the world, in terms of its population density and the tunnels which Hamas dug underground,” he is quoted as saying.
According to Israeli army data, 614 Israeli officers and soldiers have been killed, and more than 3,362 have been injured, since October 7 last year, reported the Middle East Monitor (MEMO).
Rafah Invasion
Asked about the Rafah invasion, which was delayed until this week, Hagari reportedly said: “The operational conditions necessary to carry it out did not exist.”
He added: “We will deal with Rafah in the way which is right for us. I want to tell the public so that they do not delude themselves: Even after we deal with Rafah…Hamas will move northwards and try to reconstitute itself, even in the next few days. In every place Hamas returns to, including in northern and central Gaza, we will return to operating.”
The Israeli army issued evacuation orders early on Monday for Palestinians in the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah and called on them to move to the town of Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza. Approximately 100,000 Palestinians residing in the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah are affected by this evacuation process.
According to MEMO, he also said Rafah “is not as important as Khan Yunis and northern Gaza,” referring to other areas of Gaza that the army has already razed.
US Arms Halt
Asked about the holdup of an arms shipment by the US administration over a potential major Israeli operation in Rafah, Hagari said allies resolve any disagreements “behind closed doors.”
He described coordination between Israel and the United States as reaching “a scope without precedent, I think, in Israel’s history,” reported MEMO.
On Tuesday, Joe Biden’s administration confirmed reports that it had recently stopped a large shipment of 2,000- and 500-pound bombs that it feared Israel might use in the densely populated Rafah.
‘Unusual’ – US Postpones Arms Shipment to Israel but Pledges ‘Ironclad Commitment’
Rising Death Toll
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 34,904 Palestinians have been killed, and 78,514 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(PC, MEMO)
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