“In any asymmetric conflict, such as the conflict between Hamas gangs and the Israeli regular army, it all begins when the air force hits all known targets and then focuses on the targets that have the opportunity. This is the stage we are in.” General Leonardo Tricarico, former Chief of Staff of the Air Force and President of the Icsa Foundation, defines “the work of the IAF as very intense, compared to subjects like Hamas which have a certain fading of gangs.”

Will the ground attack start now?

“Everyone expects word to reach the tanks and special forces. I do not wish. The air force will continue its work, especially using drones, but leaving the say almost exclusively to ground forces may entail certain risks of expanding the scope of the conflict. It is a turning point that everyone fears. Netanyahu announced this without specifying when or how. If they intend to use ground forces as a net into which everything will be drawn, destroying the human ecosystem, and if they reach Gaza City in the north, in the heart of the Strip, the first to intervene will be the other. The trio: in addition to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, along with the killers and militants.”

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What should Israel do then?

“Israel has the right to defend itself, but it is hypocritical to expect it to do so by respecting rules and human rights. Everyone knows it’s impossible. “Many innocent people will lose their lives, and this must be said clearly so that they will not be exposed to scandal later.”

What would be the alternative?

“However improbable, Israel can serve vengeance, or justice, like a cold dish, and not blindly, adopting a long-term strategy and taking every necessary precaution for the lives of Palestinian non-combatants. It should choose targets, and purge Hamas leaders as it is already doing.” The Israelis possess the technological tools, the professionalism, and the knowledge of the region at home, even superior to that of Hamas. They can rely on a vast network of informants, large numbers of Palestinians willing to become informants, and on their own intelligence and that of their allies. The course of justice must be conceived and clarified on the basis of interventions “A military in which the protection of civilians is the priority, and where casualties are the result of errors, not deliberate attacks.”

Hamas says that 50 hostages have already died in the Israeli raids, and then there is the problem of the tunnels…

“The numbers provided by Hamas cannot be trusted. We saw that with 500 deaths in hospital, which is a surreal number. Israel has equipped itself with bombs capable of reaching a depth of 50-60 metres, and some say even 100 metres. The difficulty depends on the fact that the tunnel openings are located near hospitals. There will be carnage on the surface. As for the hostages, they are not concentrated, but distributed among different gangs. “With the right intelligence, we may be able to prevent many from losing their lives.”

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