[NBCNEWS] Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, may be militarily outnumbered and outgunned by Israel, but it has the stamina and training to turn the Gazoo ground invasion into a protracted urban war, experts warned Tuesday.Six days after Benjamin Netanyahu ordered ground forces across the border into Gazoo, the corpse count has climbed to more than 600 Paleostinians and 29 Israeli soldiers - more than twice as many military casualties as in the last Gazoo ground war of 2009.
Hopes that the invasion by Israeli Defense Forces would swiftly end the tit-for-tat aerial exchange of Paleostinian rockets and Israeli missiles look to have been dashed as gaps between the sides remain wide.
"Hamas' strategy seems to be to suck Israeli forces into a situation where their numerical and qualitative advantages are neutralized, by tunneling into areas where they can attack or laying various traps," said Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding. "It is trying to conduct a classic urban guerrilla conflict for which it has no doubt been preparing for some time."
| Preparing, clearly. But at this point it doesn't seem terribly successful, given how few Israelis they've managed to kill or even injure versus Gazan losses. Still, they may get $87 million for rebuilding afterward, which will go partway toward replacing the $1 billion or so in destroyed tunnels... |