Israel's army suffers increasing losses

Middle East - Israel's army suffers increasing losses

Around two months after the start of the Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, the Islamist Hamas is causing increasing losses among Israel's ground troops by switching to guerrilla tactics, according to a media report. This shows how difficult it is for Israel to eliminate Hamas as intended, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Over the Christmas weekend alone, 14 Israeli soldiers were killed. Meanwhile, Pope Francis called for peace at the Christmas Mass in Rome.

More than 150 Israeli soldiers already killed

According to the "Jerusalem Post", Israel's war cabinet will discuss a proposal from Egypt to end the war this Monday. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated the day before that the fighting would continue until Hamas had been completely defeated. Since the start of the ground offensive at the end of October, 156 Israeli soldiers have been killed, reported the Times of Israel. According to a military estimate, Israel claims to have killed around 7860 terrorists in the Gaza war so far.

If the estimate is correct, the number of Islamist fighters killed would correspond to almost 40 percent of the total number of deaths recorded in the Gaza Strip to date. The military's figures could not initially be independently verified. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, around 70 people were killed in new Israeli attacks. Several families in the Al-Maghasi refugee district were affected. This could not be independently verified either. Israel's army wanted to investigate the reports.

Army: Bodies of hostages recovered

According to the army, the bodies of five of the hostages were recovered from a network of tunnels in the northern Gaza Strip. The mortal remains of the men and women abducted from Israel on October 7 were found in a very extensive and deep tunnel system in the Jabalia refugee district, it said. According to Israel, a number of Hamas terrorists are hiding in such tunnels and are also holding other hostages from Israel there.

The terrorists also use the underground routes to emerge from nowhere and attack from behind. Hamas is now attacking with cells of just two to five fighters before they dive back into the tunnels, theWall Street Journal reported, citing a senior Israeli officer.

Report: Hamas uses women and children

They also operated from civilian safe havens and used women and children to gather information and transport weapons, it was reported. Hamas is also storing weapons in hundreds of empty houses. This enables its fighters to move around freely, pretend to be civilians and grab weapons at the last moment before an attack.

The rising number of fallen Israeli soldiers has led to internal criticism that Israel is endangering its soldiers by reducing its use of force in response to US demands to limit the number of civilian casualties, writes the Wall Street Journal. Israeli security officials and Prime Minister Netanyahu denied a change in tactics. A complete victory over Hamas is the only way to eliminate Hamas, return all hostages and ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel, Netanyahu said on Sunday.

Report: Egypt proposes plan to end the war

The Saudi TV channel Aschark News reported on the same day, citing informed sources, that Egypt's proposal envisaged an end to the war in several stages. In the first phase, the aim would be to enforce a ceasefire lasting at least two weeks. During this time, 40 hostages would be released. In return, Israel would release 120 Palestinian prisoners. This would be followed by a Palestinian dialog under the auspices of Egypt.

A third phase would then provide for a complete ceasefire and a comprehensive agreement on the exchange of hostages and prisoners. In a final step, Israel would withdraw its army, while all displaced persons could return to their homes.

What will be important on Monday

According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel's war cabinet will discuss a proposal from Egypt to end the war in phases. Meanwhile, the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip continues to suffer from the effects of the ongoing fierce fighting.