Was Hamas prepared for Israel’s ground war?
At the time when the Israeli army surprised the world by isolating the Gaza Strip and declaring the beginning of the invasion it had promised in recent days, statements made by the leader of Hamas‘ external movement, Khaled Mashal, and the head of the political bureau of the movement, Ismail Haniyeh, regarding Israel’s actions and the possibility of a ground war, indicated that the movement had anticipated it and prepared for it.
The statements confirmed that they knew in advance that Israel would respond with force and seek to invade the Gaza Strip. They were aware of the intervention scenarios and how Israel would enter Gaza and carry out probing operations, which Hamas had taken into account.
Mashal’s discussions on a digital platform and Haniyeh’s speech to a satellite channel affiliated with the movement suggest that they were well-informed about the details of the operations from Doha, increasing pressure on Qatar regarding the presence of the leadership there, in parallel with American-Israeli efforts to encircle the movement.
On Thursday, Mashal said, ‘A ground war on the Gaza Strip is coming, leading to a dangerous phase,’ confirming that ‘the United States is participating in the battle,’ according to the London-based Arab newspaper.
This came during a meeting between Mashal and a group of youth held on a digital platform, in which he discussed the developments of the ‘Operation Storm Al-Aqsa’ initiated by Hamas on October 7, followed by Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Mashal added, ‘Today, Washington is moving with joint planning and qualitative participation in the battle to achieve a ground war or maneuver to achieve what they want with minimal losses because Israel cannot afford a loss similar to what it suffered on October 7.’
According to the same source, Mashal’s statements, in particular, deny the current claims that Hamas finds itself in a situation similar to Israel‘s war on Hezbollah in 2006 when the leader of the party, Hassan Nasrallah, said ‘if we knew.’
He pointed out that Washington is moving on three tracks: ‘The first is not to enter by land, and there is a long opportunity given to Israel to strike Gaza from the air. US President Joe Biden said we want the Mosul model, not Fallujah (in Iraq) because it is less costly and entails comprehensive destruction to raise the white flag, which is dangerous.’
He continued, ‘The second track: Washington enters with its experts, sending the Delta expert team to release hostages, generals, and modern ammunition to penetrate the depths and use nerve gas with the goal of disabling the resistance in the tunnels for a period, as they understand our strength in the tunnels.’
He further stated, ‘The third track will be after completing the first and second, which is a tactical plan to enter from the north by sea or in the form of a belt or a comprehensive entry. There have been attempts to gauge the situation east of Khan Yunis in the past two days.’
Over extended hours from last Friday evening to Saturday morning, the Israeli artillery continued its intense and relentless shelling of sites in the northern Gaza Strip. The shelling specifically targeted the vicinity of Al-Shifa, Indonesian hospitals, and the center of the Gaza Strip, where Israeli aircraft raided the vicinity of these two hospitals more than ten times, according to the Palestinian news agency (WAFA).
The Israeli army spokesperson, Admiral Daniel Haggari, said in a statement broadcast on television last Friday evening: ‘In addition to the attacks carried out in the past two days, ground forces are expanding their operations tonight,’ raising questions about whether the long-anticipated ground invasion of Gaza has begun.”
