This morning I want to say a few words about the battlefield. IDF soldiers are not fighting in a traditional army vs army situation. The official term is asymmetric. But what does that mean? IDF troops have a tremendous advantage in firepower. Hamas tries to offset that by keeping their forces hidden. It’s a classic guerrilla war approach. Hide your troops inside the civilian population until you use them to strike a blow. Afterwards, they melt into obscurity again.
For Hamas, there are 2 ways to hide; as part of the ‘people’, and underground. The extensive network of concealed fortifications and communications has taken Hamas years to construct. The materials used were skimmed off of things brought into Gaza for use in rebuilding. That tied in neatly with their objective of having others pay for what they needed. They still do it now. The humanitarian aid trucks are controlled others until the cross into Gaza. At that point Hamas guards take over. All the food, water, and fuel that Hamas wants is taken away first. Then the rest is given to international agencies for distribution.
The tunnel network serves as a resupply route and as an avenue of approach for attackers. Personnel are also moved from place to place in ambulances, or disguised as unarmed civilians. The underground network (with some above ground locations, too) has many storage spaces where weapons, munitions, and other equipment is stored. This week the IDF found rocket launching rails outside a home. The controls for firing the rockets were inside, on top of the family refrigerator. Other favored storage and command center locales are schools, hospitals, and mosques. Almost every structure in those categories had either an inside storeroom, or an access shaft to the tunnel network, or both.
Unarmed civilians, especially women and children, are used to gather intelligence on the locations of IDF forces. Some also serve as couriers, or simply to carry equipment and munitions. A child who appears to be hurrying home with a sack of vegetables may have an explosive device concealed under a bag of carrots.
Under these conditions, avoiding civilian casualties is no easy task.
Wetherhorn 