The Israeli army is “not yet ready” to launch a ground offensive into the Gaza Strip and lacks “achievable military objectives” to accomplish the stated goal of “eradicating” Hamas, according to senior US officials who spoke with the New York Times (NYT) on 23 October.
“[US] officials said they have not yet seen an achievable plan of action,” the western news outlet details, but also cites senior US officials as saying that the US “had not told Israel what to do and still supported the ground invasion.”
This support includes deploying three-star Marine Corps General James Glynn – who oversaw operations against ISIS in Iraq – and several other military officers to “advise” Israeli leaders on how to carry out a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
“We have asked several officials with relevant experience simply to help Israeli officials think through the difficult questions ahead and explore their options. The [Israeli army] will, as always, make its own decisions,” a Pentagon spokesperson told Axios.
According to Israeli media, US and Israeli officials have held “marathon meetings and phone calls” over the past two weeks to outline the ground operation, which was expected to start several days ago.
On Sunday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a televised interview: “This may be a bit more difficult because of the underground network of tunnels that Hamas has constructed over time and the fact that they have had a long time to prepare for a fight.”
Bloomberg last week cited Israeli officials as saying that “the role and influence of the US in this war against Hamas are deeper and more intense than any exerted by Washington in the past,” reportedly to allow for more time to negotiate the release of the over 220 Israeli prisoners of war (POW) in Gaza.
US trepidations about the Israeli army’s lack of preparedness echo years-old comments from retired Israeli general Yitzhak Brick, who on Sunday met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has on multiple occasions warned that Israel is “not ready for war” and that the armed forces have turned into an “air force army.”
“We did not prepare for the difficult war that will be here in a few months or years. Our competence has been damaged for years […] The political echelon has no monitoring of what happens in the [army], there are no discussions in the cabinet, and the National Security Council has become the prime minister’s personal secretary,” Brick stressed back in August.
In May, the former army ombudsman called the situation of the Israeli land forces “tragic,” highlighting that “an imaginary reality has been created by the general staff and spread throughout the army. The soldiers have lost their motivation and fighting spirit in recent years, and many are not ready to go into battle.”
“I have seen soldiers who do not take care of their weapons before leaving the base. No army in the world behaves like this. The soldiers carry their smartphones with them everywhere. Commands are sent via WhatsApp groups. These phones are being tracked by the enemy,” Brick said several years ago.
Nonetheless, on Monday, the Times of Israel reported that the Israeli army command informed the government that “ it is fully prepared for a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and believes it can achieve the goals set out for it, even at the risk of heavy casualties to soldiers, and amid ongoing attacks by Hezbollah in the north.”