ISRAELI Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has launched his ground offensive in Gaza! A well-known Israeli journalist and security analyst, Avi Issacharoff said yesterday: ‘This government led by Netanyahu has only one path, which is a ground operation inside the Gaza Strip.’
He added: ‘I believe Netanyahu’s political career is over after the Hamas attack on Israel,’ which took the Israeli government and military by surprise as Hamas inflicted a defeat on the Israeli government and military, as well as acquiring hundreds of hostages.
Issacharoff added 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, adding: ‘I was driving to a nearby area when I noticed hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles being transported to the Gaza area. I had never seen anything like this before in my life,’ referring to the massive mobilisation 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.
‘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,’ asserted Issacharoff.
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.’
He added: ‘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 centre, 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’.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that the decision to expand ground operations in the Gaza Strip was approved unanimously by the members of the war Cabinet.
Addressing a joint press conference along with Defence Minister Yoav Galant, and Emergency Government Minister Benny Gantz, Netanyahu stated: ‘We are only at the beginning of the journey. The battle in the Gaza Strip will be tough and protracted, and we are prepared for it.’
He described the ongoing war on Gaza as ‘an existential test for Israel. This is our second war of independence.’ He continued: ‘In the first weeks of the war, we crushed the enemy massively to help our forces enter the ground more safely. This war will be the mission of our lives.’
Regarding Hamas’s proposal for a prisoner exchange deal, Netanyahu said the war Cabinet debated the proposal, ‘but discussing it now will not help’.
To a question about who was responsible for the military and intelligence failure on October 7th, Netanyahu said: ‘After the war, we all must provide answers to difficult questions. There has been major negligence, and this will be investigated thoroughly.’
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) on Friday said Israeli forces threatened to bomb the Al-Quds Hospital in the Gaza Strip where as many as ‘12,000 displaced people, including 70% children and women, are in imminent danger of being bombed and blasted to death.’
It asked: ‘Is there a world power capable of stopping the threats of the Israeli occupation army to bomb hospitals with innocent civilians inside?’
The answer is there is. The world power capable of stopping the proposed massacres is the working class of the world, which on Saturday marched through London and many other capitals demanding that the TUC and the other trade union leaders, call a general strike in support of the workers of Gaza and to bring down the Tory government at home and the governments of the major imperialist powers.
What is required is the building of sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International worldwide to lead the world socialist revolution to its victory!
