Israel’s rising losses in Lebanon and Gaza are proof that this war is unwinnable
An Israeli army soldier walks past a tank as forces gather at a position near the fence with the Gaza strip in southern Israel on 30 April 2024
David Hearst writes in Middle East Eye on 31 October 2024:
There is a simple reason for the renewed interest in ceasefire plans for Gaza and south Lebanon, and the nightly slaughter of Palestinian refugees that accompanies each push for peace.
It has nothing to do with Israel’s assassination campaign of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders or its latest attempt to limit the production of solid rocket fuel in Iran. Abundant supplies of self-delusion and spin surround the current perception in Israel and Washington that each resistance group is “bruised and battered” and that Iran’s wings have been clipped.
The reason stares the Israeli army’s high command in the face: October has become the bloodiest month for its forces since December last year. Its forces are regularly taking losses in both north Gaza and southern Lebanon.
At the latest count, and these figures change every day, in one month, 62 soldiers have been killed in combat, and 15 civilians and two policemen have been killed in missile strikes and attacks inside Israel. To date, the Israeli army’s rehabilitation department is dealing with more than 12,000 injured soldiers, a toll going up by about 1,000 a month. Many believe this figure is an underestimate of the real number of injuries that have been treated in hospitals.
This includes the opposition figure, Yair Lapid. He told Channel 12: “There are limits to how much we accept the alternative facts.”
According to a recent Hezbollah statement, since 1 October, the Lebanese resistance movement killed 90 Israeli soldiers and officers, wounded 750 and destroyed 38 Merkava tanks.
Frequent retreats
At the very least, the Israel military’s campaign to clear north Gaza and south Lebanon of fighters and civilians is meeting fierce resistance and producing, one year on, some of the heaviest fighting in the war.
Any notion that Hamas and Hezbollah have lost their ability to fight since the assassination of their political and military leaders has been brutally discarded.
In north Gaza, the Jabalia refugee camp has not been cleared of Hamas fighters, nor has the population of Jabalia and Beit Hanoun been starved into submission and moved south, as prescribed by the “Generals’ Plan”.