Yesterday evening, an IDF spokesperson announced that Israel is planning to send 100,000 reservists into Gaza to free hostages and to ensure that “Hamas will no longer have any military capabilities to threaten Israeli civilians with” and also that “Hamas will not be able to govern the Gaza Strip.” Meir Ben-Shabbat, a former head of Israel’s National Security Council and 30-year veteran of the Shin Bet, explains how the IDF might go about accomplishing this:
The current circumstances not only justify but necessitate a departure from the policy of surgical strikes. While they provide precision and show Israel’s special capabilities, they require long, protracted, and complex preparations and in any event cannot constitute a sufficient price tag for the severe attack carried out by Hamas.
In place of this policy, Israel should warn the civilian population in the Gaza Strip that Israel’s intentions are to launch a massive assault. . . . Israel should destroy everything connected to Hamas: the homes of Hamas operatives, government offices, and offices belonging to the organization, institutions, banks, vehicles, generators, boats, warehouses, and workshops. The practice of “knock on the roof” (dropping low-yield devices to warn of an imminent full-scale bombing) should be suspended as it slows down the pace of operations, and the liaison office with Gaza should be closed.
The important plans concerning Saudi Arabia should not be a restraining factor when it comes to Gaza. The Saudi street won’t react positively to Israel’s operations, but they too will respect a powerful response to such a barbaric assault.
Read more on Israel Hayom: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/israel-must-make-it-clear-the-era-surgical-strikes-is-over/