Political and military analysts agreed that the Israeli army is no longer what it used to be and has lost many of its military skills after facing resistance factions rather than rival armies.
Muhannad Mustafa, an expert in Israeli affairs, said that the Israeli occupation army did not invest much in the infantry force, indicating that most of the investment in terms of equipment and training was allocated to technological devices and the air force, while neglecting the rest of the sectors in the army.
Mustafa explained – during his speech to the program "Gaza ... What's next?" broadcast on Al Jazeera – that the IDF entered the current battle in the Gaza Strip suddenly and was not ready.
He pointed out that this army has turned due to the occupation in the West Bank into a police army that protects settlers, which has lost many of its military skills as a regular army.
Asymmetric warfare
For his part, military expert and strategist Fayez al-Duwairi reviewed evidence from the battle of "Flood Al-Aqsa" carried out by the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), confirming the decline of the Israeli army and its pride, which it was proud of.
He pointed out that two thousand members of the elite forces in the Qassam Brigades dealt with 15,<> soldiers and officers in the "Gaza Division", and inflicted heavy losses, in addition to the Hamas response to the Israeli force, which penetrated meters east of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip.
He stressed that the Israeli army is no longer the army that defeated the Arab armies in conventional wars thanks to air superiority, but is currently fighting a war of a different kind, which is the asymmetric war between an army with its organization, armament and combat doctrine, and organizations that are smaller and numerous, but more faithful to its cause.
Historically, armies have lost most of these wars, according to Duwairi, who said that these wars are a demand for the weaker party, because it will fight from zero distance as the air force is neutralized with the emergence of efficiency differences in individual preparation.
An inevitable ground operation
The two analysts agreed on the inevitability of an Israeli ground operation in the Gaza Strip, but pointed to concerns in Tel Aviv about the possibility of achieving its goals after the Israeli government raised the bar high on demands to eliminate Hamas and end its rule of the Strip.
The two sides pointed out that the concerns also relate to the human cost to the Israeli army in addition to the economic cost, with Duwairi stressing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be the first loser after the dust of the battle settles.
The Hebrew news site Walla quoted Israeli military sources as saying that waiting for ground forces on the outskirts of Gaza had become very dangerous.
These sources touched on the postponement of the ground operation more than once in the past few days under various pretexts, including good planning and fears of the expansion of the circle of fighting with Lebanon, in addition to Tel Aviv's bet to gain international support for a large-scale ground operation in Gaza.