It is only a matter of time, writes Amos Yadlin, before Hamas attempts to send its forces into Israel via tunnels. The IDF can limit its response to occasional, circumscribed sorties into Gaza, but such an approach is likely to escalate into open conflict despite Israeli efforts to the contrary. Thus, absent a technological equivalent of the Iron Dome missile-defense system for repulsing tunnel attacks, Israel must prepare for a preemptive strike:
Operation Protective Edge proved that attack tunnels dug beneath the border of the Gaza Strip were almost the only strategic tool Hamas possessed to attain any significant gain, and most of its other so-called surprises and military efforts—long-range rockets, drones, and naval commandos—failed. . . .
[E]ventually, Hamas will force Israel into another conflict. Since, [as a general principle], a preventive strike is better [than being dragged into war on the enemy’s terms], the first question, more important than the tunnels, is: what is the objective of the future round of fighting and how prepared is Israel? . . .
Israel must establish that the discovery of cross-border tunnels ready for Hamas attacks requires preemptive action. If such action should escalate into a full-blown conflict, the conflict must be brief but forceful, based on a clear strategic objective that unlike all previous military encounters has the potential to effect a fundamental change in the balance of power and the dynamics between the sides.
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