Gaza becoming an inescapable quagmire for Israel

Around dawn, on Saturday October 7th, thousands of rockets fired from Gaza rained down on Palestinian territories occupied by Israel. The projectiles reached as far north as Tel Aviv and as far east as al-Quds. Shortly afterwards Palestinian fighters stormed towns in the south, launching attacks, taking some 250 captives, including members of the military.

The combined land, sea, and, air, attack was conducted by Hamas and was supported by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The ten hour long al-Aqsa Storm operation, which caught Israel’s military and intelligence services off guard, dealt a humiliating blow to Israel’s much touted military and intelligence system.

The meticulously planned operation by Palestinian resistance came a few days after the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivered a boastful speech at the United Nations announcing the establishment of a new Middle East centered around Israel.

Following the attack, the Israeli military launched a devastating onslaught on the Gaza Strip, a densely populated enclave which has already been under siege for 16 years following the victory of Hamas in the 2007 Palestinian parliamentary elections.

Over 13,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have already been killed in the Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7th. The onslaught, described as collective punishment by the United Nations, is seen as a desperate attempt by the Israeli officials, spearheaded by Netanyahu, to cushion the blow the occupying regime received from the Palestinian resistance groups.

The damage done to Israel, however, goes beyond the intelligence and military flop. It is also a political, economic and psychological catastrophe. The self-proclaimed invincible regime has shown itself to be vulnerable, weak, and impotent.