Haaretz: General Itzhak Brik… Don’t believe the army’s story about killing thousands of Hamas fighters hiding in the tunnels
Israeli leftist Haaretz newspaper published an opinion article by former Israeli army general Itzhak Brik, in which he says that the Israeli army, and some analysts, present a false image of killing thousands of Hamas fighters hiding in the tunnels.
Res. General Brik said that he reached a conclusion, based on information he received from soldiers and officers fighting in the Gaza Strip, that most battles aren’t fought face-to-face, as the military spokesman or analysts claim, and that most of the dead and wounded were injured as a result of the military tactics of Hamas, whose fighters go out from the tunnel openings to confront Israeli soldiers and armored vehicles, then return to the tunnels.
Res. General Brik stated in his article that the Israeli army doesn’t have quick solutions to confront this issue.
Many of the officers fighting in Gaza told him that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to prevent Hamas from rebuilding itself, even after all the destruction that the Israeli army inflicted on its bases.
According to General Brik, senior officials of the security and military establishment want to portray the war as a major victory before the picture becomes clear.
He said that Israel is cooperating with important television channels to achieve an “image of victory,” and noted that this war may be the most documented through video recordings in the entire world.
Res. General Brik continued, it would have been better if the military objectives were more modest, because destroying Hamas’ network of underground tunnels may require years, and would cost the Israeli state many deaths, as Hamas’ tunnels are connected to the Sinai Peninsula under the city of Rafah.
He stressed that the IDF will be forced to leave crowded urban areas and work with a “military surgery” mechanism through ground incursions and air strikes precisely directed by intelligence.
At the end of his article, General Brik wondered about the ability of politicians and senior security officials to think outside the box solutions to create a better image than the image of the biggest losers?
