Israel ‘bogged down’ in Gaza, suffered ‘strategic losses’ against Hamas: Ex-general

A retired Israeli general says the regime is stuck in Gaza, with its ground forces badly weakened and reeling from major strategic setbacks in its fight against the Hamas resistance.

Major General Yitzhak Brik, a former senior officer in the Israeli military, pointed to the growing military weakness and strategic failures of the regime in an Op-Ed at Israeli news website Arutz Sheva, saying, “The painful truth, as reflected by senior IDF officers—from generals to company commanders speaking off the record—is that Israel was not prepared for the ‘Iron Swords’ war.”

The Israeli regime, he continued, “has already suffered a strategic loss in its campaign against Hamas.”

The general pointed to a severely weakened military. The Israeli ground forces are “severely depleted and undergoing structural decline,” he said, adding, “Their inability to decisively defeat Hamas is only part of a larger problem.”

Brik’s assessment comes on the heels of Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on Gaza, where, despite months of a brutal military campaign, the Israeli army has failed to reach its objectives, including the elimination of Hamas resistance movement.

Since the start of the war in October 2023, over 59,100 Palestinians—mostly women and children—have been killed, and the territory remains under a suffocating siege, with aid deliveries reduced to a trickle. Yet, Palestinian fighters continue to engage Israeli forces across various areas of the territory.

Five Israelis killed, 14 injured as resistance operation rips through Israeli infantry unit in northern Gaza

As many as five Israeli forces are killed and 14 others wounded during a resistance operation in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Brik believes Israel’s leadership is failing to plan ahead. “While Israel remains bogged down in the Gaza Strip, its leadership is failing to prepare the military for the next and potentially far more dangerous conflict,” he wrote.

The vulnerability is not limited to Gaza, he went on to note, describing the situation in the occupied West Bank as a “powder keg.”

In the West Bank, where violence has also escalated since October, nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers’ attacks and over 7,000 injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Reports from Doctors Without Borders indicate that 40,000 Palestinians remain forcibly displaced in the region due to Israeli military assaults. Yet, Brik warns, “The IDF currently lacks the necessary ground forces to secure all its critical sectors.”

Pointing to Hezbollah as an active resistance force in the north of the occupied territories, Brik wrote, “Hezbollah remains active, despite being weakened. It possesses hundreds of kilometers of tunnels and enough ammunition to paralyze northern Israel—just as it did during a barrage of over 100 rockets per day in the days leading up to a ceasefire.”

A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on November 27, 2024, although Israeli forces continue to violate the ceasefire on a daily basis.

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Israel’s military claimed its fighter jets launched "numerous strikes" on targets belonging to Hezbollah in the area of Bekaa.

Furthermore, Brik claimed that Egypt is making preparations for a war with Israel. “Intelligence suggests the Egyptian military is preparing for a potential confrontation with Israel,” while the Israeli military lacks the manpower to respond effectively, he wrote, while also claiming there were activities of some resistance groups along the border with Jordan.

He also pointed to the recent war with Iran, noting, “Iran is rapidly enhancing its missile capabilities.”

The general’s statements follow Israel’s June 13 aggression on Iran, which killed more than 1,060 Iranians, including senior military commanders, scientists, and civilians. A week later, the United States bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities. In retaliation, Iran struck key Israeli sites across occupied territories as well as an American military base in Qatar. On June 24, Iran, through its successful retaliatory operations against both the Israeli regime and the US, managed to impose a halt to the terrorist assault.

“If the IDF is not properly prepared for these emerging dangers, the next war could be exponentially more devastating,” he wrote.

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