Middle East Erupts: Hamas vs Israel
On the early morning of October 7th (EST time), Hamas launched a ground invasion into Israel (first time its been done since the Yom Kippur war of ‘73). Apparently Israel and Mossad was completely caught off guard by this development and was slow to respond. Hamas managed to capture a sizeable amount of territory and still holds onto it even after almost 48 hours of hostilities. Israel has even declared war on Hamas and declared “total war”, first time since 1973.
We have to go back and understand why the events occurring since October 7th are much more significant than past events like the brief 2021 Gaza-Israel conflict or even the 2014 conflict. This is the first time in a long time that there is foreign/hostile troops inside Israeli territory. Both the 2021 and 2014 conflicts were limited to rocket attacks by Hamas and airstrikes by the Israeli airforce. And the fact that Hamas soldiers are still inside Israel shows the organization and planning Hamas has done before they conducted the operation. Or it could be interpreted as a lackluster response by the Israelis.
What is also significant of the operation is how many Israelis have been killed or injured. Usually the casualties are very lopsided towards Palestine since the Gaza strip is one of the most densely populated places on Earth, 5,500 people per square kilometer to be exact (or 13,064 per square mile). So you will often have absurdly high casualty figures for Palestine but much lower for the Israelis. But, the death toll for Israel has exceeded 700, more than all the other previous decades combined, and its only been 2 days worth of fighting. The Palestinian death toll stands roughly at 400. So calculating the injured and missing, Israel’s casualties stands at 2,800. Palestine’s is somewhere near that amount as well, perhaps 2,700.
Per Zerohedge:
For the first time since the Yom Kippur War of 1973, the government of Israel has issued a formal and legal “declaration of war” after Saturday’s devastating assault from Islamic militants out of Gaza, which according to the country’s health ministry has left over 700 Israelis dead and thousands injured. Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer told CNN in a morning interview, “There will probably be more hundreds, several hundred more.”
When you see all of this, you begin to get a general understanding of why this is a big deal for Israel, and why its a complete failure on their part (or perhaps some speculate that the Mossad let this happen to bolster support for right wing parties in leveling Gaza). But the American navy is apparently being sent near Israel to show “support” with them. Whether this turns into anything later on down the line is anyone’s guess, but we have to keep an eye on this for now.
The U.S. Aircraft Carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) as well as the other Ships in Carrier Strike Group 12 which includes Ticonderoga-Class Cruiser USS Normandy (CG-60), as well as Arleigh Burke-Class Destroyers USS Ramage (DDG-61), USS McFaul (DDG-74), and USS Thomas Hudner… pic.twitter.com/FlV1tJT8DO
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) October 8, 2023
Israel has been bolstering its forces near the border with Gaza as well as the occupied settlements in Hamas hands. But a more worrying development is the amount of Israeli equipment, especially heavy equipment such as the 155 mm 109 Howitzer and the Merkava Mk.4 tanks heading north to the border with Lebanon. There have been rumors of Hezbollah joining in with Hamas to attack Israel, so far that has not happened yet, but events are rapidly unfolding and changing.
Only airstrikes have been launched by the Israeli airforce at Gaza, but no “ground war” has begun. Hezbollah has warned that if Israel does launch a ground invasion with thousands of IDF soldiers, they will join Hamas. Which could complicate things further for Israel since not only are they dealing with the Hamas threat in the south, but guerilla Pro-Palestine (separate from Hamas) militants in the West Bank, Jerusalem and other major cities, but now would have to deal with Hezbollah, if I need to remind, possess a much more firepower and soldiers than Hamas does, as well as much more experienced soldiers, trained and supplied by the curtesy of the Iranian revolutionary guard
Oil has rallied from this conflict
Stock futures of the major indexes in the USA have also taken a hit, although I personally think it will recover tomorrow (that is if there is no other escalatory moves)
We must keep our eyes out, because I have a feeling the US and Israeli media will tie this in with Iran (whether they actually had a part in this or not) and call for retaliatory measures.
