During the last few weeks, Likud MK Amit Halevi has repeatedly criticized the IDF for misleading the public about "defeating Hamas Brigades in Gaza."
Commenting on the IDF's recent announcement that it "has fully disbanded the Rafah Brigade," Halevi stated: "Those who follow me know that this is an empty message that has no basis in reality. But why does the IDF choose time after time not to tell the public the truth?
"I will start with the facts known to me as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and to every Hamas member who lives in Rafah:
1. There were at least 8,000 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in Rafah (probably much more because of the training and recruitment in the area and those who joined from the northern Gaza battalions). Therefore, even if 2,000 Hamas soldiers were killed in Rafah as the IDF spokesperson announced (the real number is much lower) it is a maximum of 25% of the fighting force.
2. In Rafah, there are many dozens of kilometers of underground tunnels so the destruction of 13 kilometers of tunnels, most of which are in the Philadelphi area and nearby, constitutes a very small percentage of the underground city of Rafah. (And not all of them were destroyed but were sealed off so it will be easy for Hamas to use them.)
3. The amount of weapons in Rafah is astronomical, with underground warehouses in buildings that the IDF didn't enter, and therefore the amount seized by the IDF is very small compared to Hamas' stockpiles.
"Therefore, even in the terms of the IDF dictionary that victory is the destruction of 60% of the enemy's force (a very incorrect definition) we are very far from victory.
"The IDF has not defeated a single brigade and not even a single company in Rafah. Hamas terrorists are tactically retreating to other places, hiding in the civilian population which is their biological family and natural environment, but they haven't gone anywhere. In fact, for them it isn't a retreat, it is an integral part of guerrilla warfare. These messages from the IDF spokesperson are an embarrassment to the IDF as an army. And worse, they mislead the public and the government.
Throughout the last 11 months, I have been demanding that the IDF representatives on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee stop using these meaningless concepts that have no basis in reality and make Hamas smirk and increase in strength – but they insist.
Every soldier who enters Khan Younis for the fourth time or Zaytun for the fifth time knows that nothing has been defeated and with the current mode of operation, it will never be defeated…
Why?
Because for every terrorist that is killed, two are born that day that are given over to Hamas education and training.
Because for every wounded terrorist, three new members of the clans are recruited directly into Hamas battalions.
Because for every weapon seized, five more are currently being produced in the Gaza underground thanks to the fuel and electricity flowing to its lathes.
With this method of a 'tunnel war,' as the Shin Bet chief correctly called it, there can be no quantitative victory, i.e. in terms of the number of fighters and terrorists the Gazans have, but also on a fundamental level, since a real victory is the elimination of the enemy's central command centers so that it is defeated in practice or surrenders, and we are not aiming there at all.
In the Gaza Strip today, the one above the ground and the one below ground, there is no possibility of a victory without control over the territory and the population, meaning control over fuel, food, water and medicine. Control over religion, education and culture. Full control and deployment in the area. And our Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi insists on not being in control of the area.This is how all the achievements of our brave soldiers become tactical achievements in an endless tunnel of terror.
So why is the IDF spokesperson misleading you?
At best he is deceiving himself as well. He has his own world of military concepts and there, as we know, he won a long time ago. You remember that the Hamas battalions have already been destroyed several times…
At worst, the word victory is not in his lexicon at all, certainly not a complete victory, which is why he gave up on this option in the first place.
Worst case scenario, he is a participant in the trend that calls for ending the war and leaving the Gaza Strip, and therefore he declares these 'victories' as part of the final agreement. Maybe there is still time to eliminate Sinwar but by and large the victory is behind us."
Yeshiva World News contributed to this article.
