The fighting in Gaza is a first of its kind and is making military history. It is in fact a war carried out on different levels. The top story is above ground and the bottom is a tunnel city with underground bases built over 15 years at great financial cost and with much sophistication. Although most has been known to the military intelligence and the Shin Bet, it is still a challenge to reach and destroy.
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Control above ground, even if it results in the death of thousands of terrorists and the capture of massive amounts of weapons and munitions, does not weaken the hold that Hamas has on the Strip and would not prevent it, from renewing its military capabilities. Only destruction of the underground networks would achieve Israel's goals to eliminate Hamas and for that the military needs time to complete the job.
The war is waged in two stages. In the first, the IDF takes hold of the area above ground and conducts its mission to clear out any terrorists possible hiding in the vicinity. This is well versed urban warfare.
But fighting in the multi storied underground complexes which are fortified by various means, is a military first. The American forces in Vietnam did fight the Vietcong in tunnels and bunkers but they were used to remain out of sight before striking and not as fortified military positions.
ISIS in Iraq and Syria dug tunnels but they also used them to hide while Hamas constructed their tunnel networks to be used as positions from which they attack IDF troops while also providing them protection from air raids.
The fighting above ground continues as long as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad forces remain organized inside their underground bases and are able to attack the forces above ground. When they can no longer operate in large units they transition to guerrilla warfare, laying ambushes and attempting to fire RPGs or explode IUD at short range before returning underground through shafts.
When the forces contain most of the threat, they move on to uncover and neutralize the underground systems using engineering tools and technology developed for that purpose by the military. The underground facilities as Shifa were dealt with by such means and were destroyed without harm to the hospital itself.
In central and southern Gaza, the landscape is different and does not have such clusters of tall buildings from which the IDF troop movements can be observed. The topography around Khan Yunis, provides the troops with a vantage point looking into the city.
That allows the troops to operate more quickly but the underground systems there are more complex. The use of air raids over the south are more precise and more directly connected to the specific forces on the ground who are following intelligence prepared for them.
The forces have learned to confront terrorists attempting to attack them with intelligence that provides them with warning of the threat and the commanders in the field use means that can not be revealed, bringing results in the number of terrorists killed and shafts uncovered.
The objective is first to dissolve the military organization of Hamas by disconnecting its forces spread in different sectors and to kill local commanders of those forces. Once Hamas reverts to only limited strikes before returning underground, the troops can begin to dismantle their infrastructure such as rocket launchers, rocket production facilities and weaponry that is found as well as the underground command centers.
All the while, the forces are laying siege on the senior leadership and the fighters believed to be on the lower levels of the underground tunnel systems dozens of meters below ground, while taking care not to harm any hostages that could be held there.
The siege that is intensifying in large areas of the Strip aims to pressure Yahya Sinwar and his senior cohorts to release hostages. A senior IDF commander said the tragic incident that resulted in the killing of three hostages in Gaza, has taught the forces to coordinate better with military intelligence but he could not elaborate for reasons of security.
The IDF has taken control of some 60% of the area in Gaza and in the north of the Strip the Hamas infrastructure was being taken apart so as to ensure that the military would be able to protect Israeli communities in the western Negev region. In Khan Younis, the troops focus the fighting on intelligence led targets.
In the refugee camps in the center of the Strips fighting for control is ongoing and would likely take two to three weeks to complete but the siege of the underground tunnel systems there is continuing and will intensify until hostages are released and the leadership of Hamas is eliminated.
Therefore, there is no significance to the statements made by politicians about the transitioning phases of the war, which were mostly talking points with the American allies who were not fully versed in the unusual challenges that the war has presented above ground and later, in more complex operations, bellow it.
The IDF is fighting intensely where Hamas is still able to fight in an organized manner and is more focused where their abilities have unraveled. The fact that the IDF is planning to move some of its forces out of the Strip, is proof that the fighting has been going well.