Fighting in Gaza resumed nearly on cue on Friday when the final extension of the truce expired and hopes in makes an attempt to resume it once more light.
Back in motion first had been Israeli F-16 bombers, pounding greater than 400 targets in Gaza, together with some within the very south close to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. However, the main focus seemed to be within the north and there’s little doubt that the Israeli military will attempt to advance deeper in direction of the centre of Gaza City simply as Defence Minister Yoav Gallant introduced: tanks, artillery, armoured bulldozers, then infantry.
Meanwhile, contradictory information from Qatar, the place intermediaries from the host nation, Egypt and the United States had been nonetheless making an attempt to persuade the warring sides to succeed in one other pause. The first announcement on Saturday stated the talks had been persevering with.
Then at mid-afternoon, the Israeli prime minister’s workplace issued a press release: “Following the impasse … David Barnea, head of the Mossad, ordered his team in Doha to return to Israel.”
Writing official statements is an artwork: One ought to by no means lie however there isn’t any want to inform the entire reality. While the “official” Israeli secret service delegation might certainly be on its method dwelling, I’ve little doubt that not less than a small staff stays in Doha. They might not be Mossad, however it could be silly to not depart certified liaison officers who can preserve speaking.
Another purpose for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep up not less than a core staff of officers in Qatar can be to keep away from straining relations with conventional ally the United States, which has supported Israel significantly within the post-October 7 disaster.
US President Joe Biden visited Israel providing Bibi a photograph op the crafty veteran of Israeli politics jumped on, splattering the media with their embraces and thoroughly chosen soundbites. Washington adopted with large provides of navy items, some industrial gross sales, and others loans. The greatest would be the $14.3bn assist bundle “for Israel’s defence”.
Weapons and armaments have been pouring into Israel by US C-17 plane and industrial airlifters virtually from October 8. The Washington Post reported that 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells (155mm) got here by air, a determine per the estimated quantity of ordnance expended within the eight-week marketing campaign and the carrying capability of the plane.
Less pressing provides will likely be arriving on much less glamourous, higher-capacity ships.
As the bombing marketing campaign resumed, the media revealed the sorts of bombs shipped to Israel, focusing totally on the specialised heavy “bunker busters”. The report claims that 100 BLU-109 bombs had been shipped. Some media speculated that this supply might signify a change in techniques in opposition to the Hamas, however there’s nothing to be enthusiastic about.
The 900kg (2,000lb) BLU-109 is nothing greater than a “dumb bomb” with thicker outer partitions than general-purpose bombs, that assist it penetrate deeper into the earth or by way of thicker layers of reinforcing concrete earlier than exploding. The corresponding weight class general-purpose MK84 bomb carries 430kg (950lb) of explosives to the “bunker-busters” 240kg (530lb).
But the BLU-109, which prices US taxpayers $65,000 apiece versus $16,000 for the MK84, is of little use to Israel as a dumb bomb. To be efficient and capable of hit targets with precision, it must be upgraded with a far costlier laser steering head unit and a management tail unit. According to the identical reviews, the US delivered 3,000 such JDAM kits that convert dumb bombs into sensible weapons.
Apart from 100 bunker busters, US deliveries reportedly included two sizes of general-purpose dumb bombs: 5,400 MK84s – 900kg (2,000lb) – and 5,000 MK82s – 450kg (1,000lb) – and 1,000 precision-guided GBU-39 “small diameter bombs” – 150kg (300lb).
Worried concerning the indiscriminate aerial bombardment of Palestinian targets that could possibly be in comparison with carpet bombing, the US warned Israel on a number of events to cut back the variety of civilian casualties.
After the resumption of bombing on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israel that “the massive levels of loss of civilian life and displacement scale we saw in the north must not be repeated in the south”.
He allegedly obtained Israeli assurances that they might attempt to kill fewer civilians, however the casualty toll within the first 24 hours of renewed preventing, with almost 200 reportedly killed within the bombardment, leaves little room for optimism.
Can something concerning the intentions of the following stage of aerial bombardment be decided from the numbers and sorts of bombs delivered to the Israeli military?
First, there isn’t any purpose to place an excessive amount of significance on the supply of 100 bunker busters. Israel already had these in its arsenal and used some, so this can be a easy replenishment or a modest build-up. While lengthy and generally deep, Hamas tunnels are largely not coated in thick layers of concrete, so Israel would want only a handful of bunker busters.
Second, one might examine the variety of standard bombs delivered, 10,400 of two totally different weight lessons, with the variety of JDAM kits, 3,000. Along with the switch of 1,000 small however exact “small-diameter bombs”, these figures might counsel that one in each three or 4 bombs dropped in future could be “smart” and that Israel can be making an effort to cut back civilian casualties in Gaza, because it allegedly promised the US.
Such a conclusion can be untimely. Without realizing the variety of dumb bombs and sensible kits that had been in Israeli warehouses and bases earlier than October 7, a prime navy secret, the ratio of precision-guided bombs versus dumb ones that indiscriminately destroy civilian infrastructure and kill non-combatants, can’t be made and it’ll take a number of extra days to ascertain whether or not there’s any change in the best way targets on the bottom are attacked.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/3/analysis-israel-resumed-bombing-gaza-what-has-happened-since?traffic_source=rss
