Israel to launch ground offensive in Gaza, says security analyst

JERUSALEM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would launch a ground offensive in Gaza, a well-known Israeli journalist and security analyst said on Monday, who also predicted collateral damage during such action.

"This government led by Netanyahu has only one path, which is a ground operation inside the Gaza Strip," Avi Issacharoff, who remained associated with several top Israeli media outlets and is a well-known face in several broadcasts, told Anadolu in an exclusive interview.

"I believe Netanyahu's political career is over after the Hamas attack on Israel," he said, adding that the Israeli prime minister will launch a ground offensive in the enclave. "However, I do not know if this will save him (Netanyahu)," he said.

"I was driving to a nearby area when I noticed hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles being transported to the Gaza area. I had never seen anything like this before in my life," Issacharoff said, referring to the massive mobilization of Israeli forces near the Gaza Strip.

Israel has not yet officially announced a ground offensive in Gaza, although it has declared a state of war.

In recent years, Israel has refrained from carrying out ground military operations in the Gaza Strip because of the high risk of losing soldiers.

"The issue is that Israel is well aware that such an operation comes at a cost. The situation will not be easy. Soldiers and civilians will die," he asserted.

Nonetheless, he went on to say: "It is clear that Netanyahu has an Israeli consensus to carry out a ground operation, and there is also Western support, as expressed in Western statements over the past two days."

Regarding whether he believed the ground operation would take place throughout the Gaza Strip or only in a limited area, he said, "I am not sure whether Israel wants a complete invasion or control of the internal borders and entry for kilometers."

"I do not rule out that the Israeli army will divide the Gaza Strip into four parts through (erecting) barriers, separating northern Gaza from its south and center, and then carry out operations to eliminate Hamas institutions and leaders.

"If the Israeli army carries out such a scenario, it will end the Hamas government and its control over Gaza, and I believe that this is the basic message that Netanyahu will send," he said.

"What Hamas did is unusual, and therefore I believe that Israel's response will also be unusual," he stated while pointing out that "the current war will be different from all previous wars in recent years."

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat