Israel – The Israeli media focused on the toll of losses incurred by the army in the Gaza Strip, as a result of the escalating operations of the Palestinian resistance in various areas of the Strip. It also addressed the issue of negotiations and escalation on the northern front.
Almog Boker, Channel 13’s political correspondent, confirmed that 7 soldiers were killed in the fighting in the Gaza Strip over the past four days, 4 of whom were killed by explosive devices.
Channel 11 reported that the number of soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks exceeded the number of soldiers and female soldiers killed on October 7, and in the days preceding the ground operation.
The Israeli channel revealed that in the three weeks of the war, 326 soldiers were killed, and since the beginning of the ground operation on October 27, 337 soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip alone. The army lost 15 senior officers from the regular and reserve forces in this war, 5 of whom held the rank of colonel, and 10 held the rank of lieutenant colonel.
The Golani Brigade suffered the highest number of casualties, losing 83 fighters since the beginning of the war. Channel 11 said that the dead did not only fall in the Gaza Strip. Since October 7, 21 soldiers were killed in battles with Lebanese factions on the northern front, and 7 were killed in the West Bank.
On the other hand, Israeli security analysts and politicians agreed – in statements to their news channels – that the Israeli army is not prepared to wage war on the northern front before ending the war in the Gaza Strip.
Noam Tibon, former commander of the Northern Corps, told Channel 13 that the Israeli army cannot fight on two fronts. “The southern front must be ended and a deal for the kidnapped soldiers must be reached,” he added, referring to the agreement with the Palestinian resistance in Gaza to release the detainees and end the war in Gaza.
For his part, Alon Ben David, a military affairs analyst for Channel 13, stressed the issue of the deal, saying: “If we overcome the differences in the Cairo negotiations and conclude a deal with the Palestinian factions movement, as for the Lebanese factions movement, the war can be ended.”
As for Israel Ziv, the former head of the Israeli army’s operations division, he spoke about the government’s lack of strategy and decision-making, stating: “The most important decision could have been taken now in Cairo to recover the kidnapped soldiers, end the war in Gaza, and transfer army forces to the north in order to decide there… and we are not in this matter.”
In the same context, Tamir Hayman, head of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said, “There is a deal that can be made that might return the kidnapped soldiers to their homes, and then all the effort will be devoted to the north.”
Source: Al Jazeera
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2024-08-27 23:08:06
