Israel committed to complete task despite Gaza’s suffering

Israel is not working and taking time off for a break. Schools are closed, and the shopping centers away from the areas of conflict are busy. Jewish people like to eat doughnuts during Hanukkah, and cake shops have a lot of them right now.

The fighting looks different when you are up close. Next to the Gaza border, in an area called the “envelope” by Israelis, there are tanks and soldiers moving around. Most civilians are not there and it looks like a place where there is a war happening.

In the north, near Lebanon, people have been moved out of their communities and the military is still fighting with Hezbollah, Iran’s powerful friend.

Casual visitors might think that life in central Israel, the area between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, has gone back to normal.

As I drove to Tel Aviv, I got a clear reminder that my impression was totally wrong.

The loud sirens went off, and the red alert app on Israeli phones warned people to take cover. Cars pulled over so the people inside could find a safe place. Other drivers went fast to leave the area. Three cars got into a crash because they were confused.

We stopped our car and saw a group of women hugging each other tightly, looking very scared.

In the sky, the Iron Dome system shot down rockets from Gaza with big explosions. A man got hurt in Holon near the highway.

The Israelis are very hurt and upset.

Hamas can still attack Israel, which shows that they are not defeated yet. The drivers’ reaction shows how much pain Hamas has caused Israel, which is good for Hamas leaders. Israel thinks they are in a tunnel under Gaza.

“Before 7 October, forget everything you thought you knew about Israel. ” “It’s all different now,” said Amos Yadlin, a retired high-ranking military officer, as we prepared for an interview in his office in Tel Aviv, with a view of Israel’s defense ministry. Yadlin was a pilot who flew planes in wars for a long time. Then, he stopped and became the boss of Israel’s military information.

We wanted to talk to him to understand how Israel plans for war. In the end, everything he said was fascinating because it showed how people in Israel felt.

MrYadlin often talked about how Israel’s fight against Hamas was similar to World War Two. He was saying that Israel had killed a lot of Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, but he thinks it was necessary. He also said that getting rid of Hamas was really important for Israel’s future.

Mr Yadlin talked about how the RAF bombed Dresden in Germany in 1945, killing many people, including women and children. We are trying not to harm other things. We tell them to go away. We want them to go to the south of Gaza.

I told him that Israel was bombing the places they said Palestinians could be safe in. Yadlin said that Israel was attacking Hamas, not innocent people.

“No, we didn’t explode any bombs on them. We attacked the Hamas areas with bombs. Hamas uses people as a shield and only targets them.

He ignored complaints from the Biden administration in the US that Israel was causing the deaths of many Palestinian civilians. He said Israel tries harder to not hurt innocent people when they bomb jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq compared to the US and UK.

Former generals who were part of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan do not agree with his interpretation. “A high-ranking British officer told me he was shocked by Israel’s disregard for the rules of war that require the safety of civilians. ” He said that it would not be okay to do in the British army.

Amos Yadlin helps the current leaders of the Israeli military and thinks that Israel needs more time to achieve its big goals in Gaza. It wants to save its prisoners, take out the Hamas leaders, eliminate them as a threat to Israel and remove their ability to control.

I said that even though the US said no to the latest peace agreement, it was warning Israel to finish its plans in a few weeks, not longer.

“Mr Yadlin said just reaching the goal is not sufficient. ” “If the remaining hostages are not returned, there won’t be a ceasefire. ”
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Israel has a very strong army and support from the United States. However, it is finding out that despite its strong belief that it must destroy Gaza to get rid of Hamas, both supporters and opponents are shocked by the way it has killed over 18,000 Palestinians, with about half of them being children.

Israel has learned that fighting a strong enemy in a city is very difficult, just like the Americans and others said it would be.

Amos Yadlin said that even though people are criticizing them, the Israelis are determined to achieve their goals. Then comes the difficult problem of how to manage and rebuild Gaza.

Mr Yadlin said that Israel won’t stay in Gaza for a long time. But if the current leaders keep wanting to control it for a long time, then it seems like Israel will stay there.