Yedioth Ahronoth: Hamas explosives caused heavy losses to the army
An Israeli military analyst said on Wednesday that many explosive traps and explosive devices in the Shujaiya neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip inflicted heavy losses on the ranks of the Israeli army.
Ron Ben-Yishai, a military analyst for the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, wrote, “In the besieged neighborhood full of booby traps and explosive devices, many of them caused heavy losses among the ranks of the Israeli forces”.
He added, referring to Hamas fighters, “They booby-trapped the buildings in which they were holed up, hoping to lure the largest number of Israeli army soldiers to death, which is what they did”.
He continued, “At least 9 officers from the Golani Brigade and Unit 669 were killed while trying to reach a location from which they could have directly clashed with the militants”.
Because the area is densely built up, sprawling with a collection of buildings and uncomfortably narrow alleys, it’s almost impossible to get a bulldozer into these claustrophobic parts of the space.
He continued that the introduction of a bulldozer would have served the IDF well in clearing sightlines, allowing for further advances and increased planning and care that could have prevented Israel from losing nine of its finest warriors.
Regarding the aerial bombardment on Palestinian fighters, he said, “The option of raining hell on them would have served little purpose, because Hamas is well aware of this type of threat, as it burrows underground before the bombs fall and rises to the surface again when the threat ends”.
He continued, “Inside the bowels of Shujaiya, one is advised not to enter any building from the front entrance, while reducing resistance inside the building by allowing a tank to blow up the aforementioned entrance, which could lead to the death of any militants waiting to ambush the soldiers once they enter”.
He added, “But yes, getting a tank into a position to fire on the building in the first place is a difficult proposition, and insisting on doing so could severely slow things down, giving the militants more time to set more traps”.
