After days of speculation and a significant buildup of troops, tanks and artillery units along the Gaza border, the Israeli Defense Forces entered the Gaza Strip Saturday night.
Initial reports seemed to indicate the ground offensive is going well for Israel. The IDF's Spokesman's Office announced "...During exchanges of fire overnight dozens of armed Hamas operatives were hit by the IDF. IAF planes struck over 45 targets including tunnels, weapons storage facilities, mortar shell launching squads, and a number of mortar shell launching areas. Israel Navy boats assisted the ground forces and attacked a number of targets including the Hamas intelligence headquarters in Gaza City, rocket launching areas, and Hamas marine forces outposts."
Thirty Israeli soldiers were wounded, two seriously.
It's important to remember this is the kind of fighting that Hamas has been preparing for ever since Israel relinquished the Gaza Strip in 2005. They've prepared booby-trapped homes and buildings, thousands of anti-tank weapons, mines and IEDs (improvised explosive devices). They've even constructed nearly 20 miles of tunnels, giving Hamas gunmen the ability to duck into one tunnel and re-surface in a completely different location. One military reporter compared this labyrinth of tunnels to the tunnel systems constructed by the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War.
Meanwhile the Israeli Cabinet approved the call up of tens of thousands of reserve soldiers and one senior defense official said, "This will be a lengthy operation and there will likely be casualties on our side. But our mission is to defend the home front. The purpose is to destroy Hamas's infrastructure and impair its ability to fire rockets into Israel."
Most of those rockets are launched from the northern Gaza Strip. We saw three rockets fired from this area on Friday when we were on the border.
The IDF warned if Hamas terrorists used civilians as human shields, they would be responsible. The IDF Spokesman's Office said, "Anyone who hides a terrorist or weapons in his house is considered a terrorist, but the residents of Gaza are not the target of the operation."
The IDF dropped thousands of leaflets in Gaza City warning people prior to air strikes.
The ground campaign seemed inevitable. Despite a devastating week-long air campaign, military experts know you cannot wage a war from the air alone.
In the midst of that air campaign, Hamas reported that more than 400 people died in the air assaults, about one-fourth of them civilians. One civilian casualty is too many, but former General Ralph Peters and current New York Post columnist noted, "Any military veteran can tell that the Israelis are taking enormous care to spare civilians. Given the number of air strikes thus far and the hundreds of tons of bombs dropped, it remains remarkable that so few innocents have been injured in such a dense urban environment."
Meanwhile, The Jerusalem Post reported that Hamas is taking retribution on its rival faction Fatah. Dozens of Fatah members have been placed under house arrest. Others have been shot in the legs or hands broken in order to not aid the Israeli incursion. In addition, 35 suspected "collaborators" with Israel have been killed. Observers note this is the kind of "justice" and brutality Hamas employs.
If the Israeli operation is successful, then it might pave the way for the government of Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas to take over the Gaza Strip. One unexpected consequence of this would be to put pressure on the next Israeli government -- whoever that might be -- to form a Palestinian state in both Gaza and the West Bank.
One leading Israeli Knesset member told CBN News two goals were paramount: First, to stop the rocket fire into southern Israel. The second goal would be to stop the re-arming of Hamas.
To do that, Israel, he believes will need to retake a strip of land called the Philidelphi Corridor. This parcel of land runs along the Egyptian Sinai border and the Gaza Strip.
Since Israel gave back this land to the Palestinian Authority in 2005, a cottage industry of hundreds of tunnels sprang up. We've done several reports on these tunnels used to bring in everything from cigarettes to sophisticated weapons.
On this eighth day of Israel's war against Hamas, several questions remain:
- What about the status of Gilad Shalit? Shalit is the Israeli soldier kidnapped in the summer of 2006, which was a prelude to the Second Lebanon War. He has been a huge bargaining chip for Hamas since then. They have tried to exchange him for hundreds of Hamas prisoners. If Israel threatens to topple Hamas will they see no more value in Shalit and kill him?
- Does Israel have enough diplomatic time? As in most Israeli wars, they fight the war while watching the diplomatic clock. Will the world allow Israel enough time to eliminate the threat by Hamas on its southern border? On Monday, French President Sarkozy visits Israel in an attempt to broker a cease-fire. One analyst told me this signals the start of the close of the diplomatic window. However, the more important signal to Israel might have come on Saturday when U.S. President George Bush said on his weekly radio address that "This recent outburst of violence was instigated by Hamas -- a Palestinian terrorist group supported by Iran and Syria that calls for Israel's destruction. Eighteen months ago, Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in a coup and since then has imported thousands of guns and rockets and mortars. Egypt brokered a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, but Hamas routinely violated that cease-fire by launching rockets into Israel."
- What about the Christians in Gaza? A small but significant Christian presence remains in the Gaza Strip. Two thousand live there but under oppressive and sometimes dangerous circumstances. In October of 2007, a prominent Christian worker, Rami Ayyad, was martyred by terrorists. This prompted dozens of Christians to flee Gaza, but many still remain. Christians around the world need to know their plight and intercede for their safety during this crucial time.
- What's the end game? A huge question is what will happen after Israel's ground campaign. Will it finish Hamas as a terrorist organization? Or will Hamas live to fight another day like Hezbollah did after the 2006 Second Lebanon War? This will be determined in part by the success or failure of the ground operation, by the number of casualties suffered by Israelis, and by whether international pressure will force Israel to stop before its objectives are accomplished.
- Finally, this campaign could have a significant impact on Israel's elections next month. A successful military campaign would vault Defense Minister Ehud Barak significantly in the polls and affect both the candidacies of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.