Pizzas galore!

The Israeli ground forces, backed up by Merkava tanks and covered from the air by Cobra helicopters, are under the operational command of Brigadier-General Eyal Isenberg, head of the Gaza Division. They are charged with blowing up Hamas weapons stockpiles, killing or arresting Hamas members and destroying the tunnels that Hamas had dug beneath the battle space to enable them to outflank the better-equipped Israelis.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, are estimated to number about 15,000 fighters. They are divided into small units of half a dozen men, each with a specific task or weapon – sniper, antitank rocket launcher, explosives expert, medic and commander. They operate through tunnels and wadis, or river beds, that crisscross the undulating farmlands of the eastern strip, where many fields were on fire from artillery barrages.

Hamas is also wary of internal enemies. After forcing out its secular rivals Fatah in fighting 18 months ago, it is concerned that Fatah members, who complain of imprisonment and beating by the Islamists, could collaborate with the Israeli forces in identifying Hamas members. A Hamas spokesman accused Fatah of compiling intelligence dossiers to pass on to the Israelis, with whom the movement is in slow-moving peace talks.

Israel says that Hamas has been taught its guerrilla techniques by Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia that fought Israel to a standstill more than two years ago, and Iran, which is said to fund both movements. Hamas has warned that it will try to capture Israeli soldiers and yesterday claimed to have seized two, although Israel refused to confirm the reports.

While Israel has insisted that it does not intend to reoccupy the Gaza Strip and its 1.5 million impoverished inhabitants, it has said that the fighting in Gaza could be drawn out, possibly lasting weeks.

Ehud Olmert, the outgoing Israeli Prime Minister, told his Cabinet yesterday that the ground offensive – which carries a risk of heavy casualties on both sides – had been unavoidable. Israel’s main aim is to end Hamas rocket fire but it also wants to deal a lasting blow to the Islamist movement, which refuses to recognise the Jewish state’s right to exist.

Diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire have been rejected by both sides. “We shall not accept the idea that Hamas will continue to fire and we shall declare a ceasefire. It does not make any sense,” Shimon Peres, Israel’s largely ceremonial President, said.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, said that thousands more Palestinian civilians would be killed and injured if the Israeli assault was not stopped soon. “This is immoral, this is illegal, this is unacceptable, and the Security Council cannot continue to sit on its hands,” he said.

Aims and objectives

Israel Primary goal is to end eight years of Palestinian rocket fire into its southern towns and cities. Four Israeli civilians have been killed since the start of the latest round of fighting a week ago. Israeli forces have targeted Hamas weapons dumps, rocket-launching teams and commanders, as well as peripheral targets such as university laboratories that are allegedly used to improve the rocket technology and mosques where Israel believes missiles are stored. The Israelis also want to smash Hamas’s infrastructure, breaking its military capacity and forcing it to sue for peace on Israel’s terms. Some senior officials have said Israel wants to topple Hamas. Tel Aviv can claim victory if the rocket fire stops and it has a truce agreement in place that prevents Hamas from simply rearming through the smuggling tunnels on the Egyptian border.

Hamas Wants Israel to end its onslaught, open the borders it controls to allow deliveries of basic supplies and cease all incursions into the Gaza Strip. It will be able to claim victory merely by surviving, and if Israel fails to smash its military capacity. It will be keen to prove that it has not been beaten, by continuing to lob its rockets across the border until Israel declares a truce that leaves Hamas unbroken, in power and claiming to be the real face of Palestinian resistance to Israel’s occupation.

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