On Sunday, November 5, at 6.30 PM IST, a virtual discussion about Israel’s war with Hamas, and the current situation of the conflict, was conducted by famous Israeli Netflix series ‘Fauda’ creator, Avi Issacharoff. Issacharoff is an award-winning, and a well-known middle east analyst, who delivered today, a first-of-a-kind presentation looking into the challenges and complexity of military operations in urban terrain.
Avi Issacharoff, a well-known middle east author, award-winning commentator and Co-CEO of Faraway Road, shared today, first-hand experiences with IDF and Israeli security forces in multiple battle zones, including Gaza.
Issacharoff received the ‘Best reporter’ Award for the ‘Voice of Israel’ after covering the second Intifada. Additionally, in 2004, Issacharoff, jointly with Amos Harel, wrote, ‘The Seventh War: How we won and why we lost the war with the Palestinians’. In 2008, Issacharoff and Harel published their second book, ‘34 Days: The Story of the Second Lebanon War’. Both the books won an award from the Institute for Strategic Studies for containing the best research on security affairs in Israel.
Issacharoff has an MA degree in Middle East Studies and speaks fluent Arabic.
Starting off, Issacharoff explained how he has been following the activities of Hamas for the last 23 years, and was also shot by Hamas terrorists back in the year 1994. Regarding the October 7 attack on Israel, he said, ‘The attack shocked all of Israel as nobody could predict that Hamas would send 1500-3000 of its terrorists, who would cross the border, wipe out whole communities, and kidnap and slaughter people.’
Avi further expressed, ‘Last week, Israel started its ground operation in north Gaza, and the condition we see in Gaza today, is the result of the doing of Hamas, which was attacking Israel. Now, the IDF is getting closer and closer to downtown Gaza City, which is the nucleus of the Hamas regime.’
‘This is Hamas’ biggest attack on Israeli territory, and even though it is for a fact that Palestinian civilians are dying, the IDF has made good military progress, with top Hamas leaders have been killed, and more than 2000 people from Hamas have been killed till now.’, said Avi.
The ‘Fauda’ creator stated, ‘Hamas is still not weak, but while Israeli soldiers are also being killed, the price paid by Hamas is heavy. At this point, the IDF’s aim is to dismantle more Hamas terrorists, and the Hamas tunnel-network. This huge system of tunnels is being used to transport not only terrorists and weapons, but also hostages and other war equipment. And this system is spread across almost all of the Gaza City.’
‘Hamas uses guerrilla warfare tactics, and 2-3 terrorists come out of the tunnel suddenly, along with launching a drone-attack, and then run away into the tunnels. The Hamas headquarters is based under the Al-Shifa hospital, and every kid in Gaza knows this too.’, revealed Issacharoff.
Speaking further about the conflict, he remarked, ‘This is not a surgical operation anymore, this is war against our enemy, which is rooted among civilians, and this is something which makes things difficult for Israel. As per Hamas, 9500 civilians have been killed in Gaza till now, and the death of civilians is something which always international pressure on Israel, which can lead to a ceasefire from the IDF, and this is exactly what Hamas wants.’
Touching upon Israel’s capabilities in this war, Avi explained, ‘Israel will definitely not be able to kill each and every individual yielding an AK-47, who identifies himself as Hamas. It is a fact that while Israel’s military operation is restricted to north Gaza and Gaza city only, there are too many Hamas terrorists down south as well. But surely, Israel will severely damage its military caliber.’
