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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">‘We Lost the North’ - The Math of Israel’s Military Defeat in Gaza</h1>November 18, 2023</div>
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<img src="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Israel_vsResistance_PC.png" alt="" title="Israel_vsResistance_PC" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="392" height="263" style="margin-right: 25px;">
Israel's ground operation in Gaza is not going very well. (Image: Palestine Chronicle)
<p><strong>By <a href="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/palestine-chronicle-editors" title="Display all articles for Palestine Chronicle Editors">Palestine Chronicle Editors</a></strong></p>
<blockquote>
<h3>Despite the tough demeanor, strong language and black attires, the war for Israel is not going very well.</h3>
</blockquote>
<p><span>“The war cabinet has lost the north.” That was a short tweet on Saturday by former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman.</span></p>
<p><span>Lieberman’s words do not require much explanation, simply
because Israel is currently facing one of its greatest military defeats
in all of its previous wars against Palestinians, in fact, Arab armies. </span></p>
<p><span>Despite the tough demeanor, strong language and black attires
donned by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Defense
Minister Yoav Gallant and War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz, the war for
Israel is not going very well. </span></p>
<p><span>The previous announcement was on November 12, when Abu Obeida declared the destruction of more than 160</span> <span>military vehicles. </span></p>
<p><span>Understandably, the Resistance cannot keep track of all Israeli
soldiers killed or wounded, but is able to estimate, based on
documented footage of what it considers “direct hits”.</span></p>
<h4><b>Israel, Playing with Numbers</b></h4>
<p><span>On Saturday, Israel admitted to the killing of six more
officers and soldiers, in addition to the serious wounding of eight
others.</span></p>
<p><span>True to form, Israel always finds ways to hide its military losses, while exaggerating the losses of its civilians. </span></p>
<p><span>A perfect example of this were the events of October 7, when
Israel claimed that over 1,400 civilians were killed, only to slowly
change the ratio between its military and civilian losses. </span></p>
<p><span>Then, later, it created yet more categories, differentiating
between military, border police, intelligence officers, and armed
settlement guards.</span></p>
<p><span>Furthermore, it eventually downgraded the overall number of
casualties on that day by 200, claiming that they were the charred
remains of Palestinian fighters. </span></p>
<p><span>That raised yet more questions about how many of Israel’s own
civilian casualties were killed in Israeli bombardment, particularly by
Apache helicopters, which did not distinguish between Qassam fighters
and Israel’s own civilians and settlers. </span></p>
<h4><b>Ground Operation Gone Awry </b></h4>
<p><span>It was obvious that the Israeli ground war is going badly in northern Gaza, for these reasons: </span></p>
<ul><li><span>Documented evidence by the Resistance of
countless Israeli tanks being blown up or damaged in direct hits,
especially using Yassin 105 anti-artillery missiles, along with other
improvised RPGs.</span></li><li><span>The Israeli military’s inability to establish permanent and defensible military bases inside Gaza. </span></li><li><span>The total lack of credibility of official
Israeli reports about the progress of the battles, and its inability to
document any significant achievement.</span></li><li><span>The pathetic display at Al-Shifa and other
hospitals, where Israeli military spokesmen tried to convince world
audiences that baby diapers and a laptop were proof that Hamas is using
hospitals for military purposes. </span></li><li><span>The declaration by the Israeli military that
Israel will be taking its ground operations to the south of Gaza – even
though no real progress has been achieved in the north. </span></li></ul>
<h4><b>Doing the Math</b></h4>
<p><span>Back to Abu Obeida’s numbers .. </span></p>
<p><span>According to satellite images analyzed by Al-Jazeera, 383 tanks
have entered Gaza at the start of the ground operation on October 27. </span></p>
<p><span>According to the Al-Jazeera analysis unit, 88 of these tanks had ‘disappeared’ between November 1 to 10.</span></p>
<p><span>On November 8, Abu Obeida had announced that 136 military
vehicles had been destroyed fully or partially. But the spokesman of the
Resistance was referring to the entirety of the Gaza Strip, not just
the northern parts. </span></p>
<p><span>And since then, dozens more armored vehicles were also destroyed. </span></p>
<p><span>On November 12, Abu Obeida declared that the number of vehicles
destroyed fully or partially by the Palestinian Resistance since the
beginning of the ground operation amounted to more than 160.</span></p>
<p><span>In addition to the 62, declared on November 17, Al-Qassam said
that it had destroyed 17 additional military vehicles on Saturday,
November 18, alone.</span></p>
<p><span>A simple math addition could offer greater clarity: </span></p>
<blockquote><p><span> 160 + 62 + 17 = 239</span></p>
<p><span>383 (original number according to satellite images) – 239 = 144 remaining</span></p></blockquote>
<h4><b>Genocidal Distraction</b></h4>
<p><span>Of course, Israel has several supply routes that allow it to
evacuate some of its destroyed or damaged vehicles and replace them with
functional ones, but there is no question that the rate of destruction
of Israel’s military machines is unprecedented in the history of all of
the wars against Arab armies. </span></p>
<p><span>On Saturday, Israel carried out major massacres throughout
Gaza, killing hundreds of civilians, a large number of them in
Al-Fakhoura and Tel Al-Zaatar schools, where hundreds of families have
been sheltering since the start of the war. </span></p>
<p><span>Though there is no military logic of how killing refugees
sheltered in schools, without food or water, could benefit Israel’s
declared objective of ‘destroying Hamas’, there is an explanation that
could make sense out of these atrocities: distraction.</span></p>
<p><span>Particularly the distraction from Israel’s military failure in
the north of Gaza. In other words, by creating new media headlines that
focus on new massacres, Israel hopes to avoid the headlines focusing on
its ongoing military defeat by the Resistance. </span></p>
<p><span>Lieberman was right when he said that “the war cabinet has lost
the north.” He should know, after all, he too failed to subdue Gaza
when he was Tel Aviv’s defense minister.</span></p>
<p><em>(The Palestine Chronicle)</em></p>
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