Facts versus fantasy in the Gaza War
By Michael Pröbsting, Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 12 December 2023, www.thecommunists.net
Israel’s government is boasting without limits. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said yesterday that its army is highly successful in destroying Hamas: “Hamas is on the verge of dissolution – the IDF is taking over its last strongholds”. [1]
Likewise, the Israeli army command claimed that Palestinian fighters would surrender in large numbers. According to an IDF speaker, it has arrested 350 militants from Hamas, and 120 from Islamic Jihad. Gallant even claims to have spoken directly to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, “telling him either to surrender or face death on the battlefield.” [2]
Furthermore, Israeli officials have said that “some 7,000 Hamas militants – roughly one-quarter of the group’s fighting force – have been killed throughout the war.” [3] Another official made a similar claim saying that “a Hamas fighter was killed for every two civilians, suggesting that this was a better combatant-to-civilian kill ratio than most armies in recent wars.” [4] (According to official numbers, at least 18,200 Palestinians have been killed until now.)
As a matter of fact, these are fantasy figures and statements – one more ridiculous than the other. [5] First, it is difficult to imagine that Gallant spoke directly to Sinwar – does the Hamas leader have a mobile and shares his number with the Israeli Defense Minister? And if Gallant can locate Sinwar’s mobile, why is his army not able to kill or capture him? In reality, it is most likely that Sinwar does not carry a mobile at all since Hamas is fully aware of the dangers of surveillance. (Remember how they skilfully avoided electronic communication in preparation of 7 October!). Probably, Gallant had just an exciting dream!
The story about the supposed “mass surrender” of Palestinian fighters has been already exposed by various media. The Israeli army is simply arresting all men and claims that these would be “Hamas fighters”. In fact, most of these are just male civilians who stayed with their families. Just look at the pictures of the humiliated naked men who have been stripped and paraded by the Israeli army. If you see their “shoes” in front of them, these are nearly all slippers. Do you know any military force in the world whose fighters have slippers?!
Furthermore, Middle East Eyes has obtained a list of full names, ages, and professions of a number of those arrested by Israel. “That list, as well as eyewitness accounts, indicate that those detained are academics, journalists, teachers at UN-run schools, school students, blue-collar workers, and employees with the Palestinian Authority.”
Likewise, it has been revealed that a video about a so-called surrender, circulated by Israeli media, was, in reality, completely staged. An arrested owner of a small aluminium factory was forced to hand over a gun to Israeli forces. He had to do this procedure several times so there exist several different videos of his “surrender”! [6]
Nearly all resistance fighters killed and injured?
Concerning the “7,000 Hamas fighters killed”. As it is well-established, about 70% of all killed Palestinians are children and women, i.e. they are definitely not Hamas fighters. So, this would mean that every single male Palestinian killed was a Hamas fighter! Obviously, this is utter nonsense. Like in every other country in the world, only a small proportion of Gaza’s men are soldiers. And given the extremely high number of children and women killed, it is clear that whole families – including their husbands, fathers or grandfathers – were killed by Israel’s barbaric carpet bombing. In other words, it is logical that most Palestinian men killed were civilians like the women and children.
There is also another absurdity in the Israeli claims. In all wars, the number of injured fighters is several times higher than those killed. So, if Israel would have killed 7,000 Palestinian fighters, there must be 20-30,000 or more injured militants. But all experts – including those of the Israeli army – have always agreed that Hamas has no more than 30-40,000 fighters. So, if the Israeli claims would be true, this would mean that nearly all Hamas fighters would be already dead or injured!
Surely, with such a high rate of casualties the Palestinian resistance would already have collapsed long time ago! But, in the real world, the liberation fighters are far from collapsing and Israel has still failed to defeat them!
This brings me to the next point. Not a single serious source confirm Israeli claims that “Hamas is on the verge of dissolution“. Quite the opposite, they all report ongoing heavy battles both in the north as well as in the south zone of Gaza.
Even the Institute for the Study of War, a ferocious pro-Israeli and neo-conservative U.S. think tank with close connections to the Pentagon and the Administration, admits that not a single “Hamas battalion or brigade has yet been rendered combat ineffective”. They say that “seven of 19 Hamas battalions (…) are degraded and at least six are currently under intense IDF pressure.” This means in turn that 9 battalions are neither degraded nor under “intense pressure”. [7]
In fact, the Israeli government itself is forced to admit that its offensive in Gaza would “take time” and that it could “last months”. [8] So how is it possible that, on one hand, Hamas is about to collapse, and, on the other hand, there are still heavy clashes, and that the war could last for more months?!
Several thousand Israeli soldiers killed or incapacitated
Israel does not only lie about its “victories”, it also lies about its losses. It claims that since the beginning of the ground offensive only 104 soldiers have been killed and about 200 were wounded. However, the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth revealed that, in fact, over 5,000 Israeli soldiers have been injured since the beginning of the war, with 2,000 are officially recognised by Israel’s Ministry of Defence as disabled! The report added “that around 60 new wounded soldiers are registered daily by the Israeli military’s Rehabilitation”.
The paper quotes Limor Luria, deputy director general and head of Israel’s Ministry of Defence’s Rehabilitation Department: “We have never experienced anything similar to this. More than 58% of the wounded we receive have serious injuries to their hands and feet, including amputations.” Furthermore, Israeli public broadcaster KAN News reported that hundreds of Israeli soldiers have suffered severe eye injuries, with some losing vision in one or both eyes. [9]
While we can not judge the official figure of 104 killed Israeli soldiers (respectively more than 430 if we include their losses on 7 October), it is evident that the official numbers of injured Israeli soldiers presented by the army’s spokespersons are far away from reality. If we take into account that soldiers with serious injuries to their hands, feet, or eyes are unable to continue fighting, it is fair to assume that the Palestinian resistance has killed or incapacitated several thousand Israeli soldiers.
Why is Israel lying so brazenly about being close to victory?
This brings us to the final question: why does Israel so brazenly lie about their military successes? Sure, it is not unusual for armies to exaggerate their strength resp. the losses of their enemies. But the extraordinary statements of the last days suggest that there is another, additional factor to explain this.
It seems to us that the Israeli government is under enormous pressure to present its military campaign as close to victory. The unprecedented global mass protests, [10] the massive opposition to the continuation of the war by most countries in the world (as the vote on a ceasefire in the United Nations General Assembly demonstrated), [11] the resulting pressure on the U.S. (Israel’s only relevant ally without which it could not wage any war) – all this pushes the Netanyahu government to assure its allies that “soon it will be over”.
By such fantastic claims, Israel hopes that it can win time and keep their allies in line. And then? Then, Netanyahu might provoke another crisis or the next war and will try to force his allies to follow him until the bitter end.
For example, the Times of Israel reported a few days ago: “National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi indicated on Saturday night that once Hamas is defeated in Gaza, Israel may have to go to war against Hezbollah across the northern border in Lebanon.” [12]
Israel is an imperialist Terror and Apartheid state. It is both strong as well as weak. It must oppress and expel the Palestinians, attack other Arab peoples and expand its territorial control via building new settlements. It must do this in order to defend its existence as a colonial settler state in a hostile environment. If the slave holders don’t regularly humiliate and discipline the slaves, the latter would turn against them and rebel.
Hence, we are in a long-term period of crisis and wars in the Middle East. This region is an explosive powder keg where the contradictions between oppressors and oppressed, between dominating and small countries and between Great Powers have dramatically accelerated. To a certain degree, we can say that the characteristics of the current historic period of capitalist decay – crisis, wars and revolutionary explosions – are concentrated in the Middle East.
Conclusions
We did show that Isarel is brazenly lying about their successes against the Palestinian resistance. This does not mean that we underestimate the difficult situation for the brothers. The Israeli army has mobilised nearly half a million troops and is vastly superior to the resistance in terms of military technology. And even if Israel primarily kills civilians – in order to expel the Palestinians from Gaza – there is no doubt that the resistance faces a very difficult situation. They are numerically outnumbered and technologically inferior.
They have only a few advantages: they know the territory much better than the invaders, they operate with the help of a sophisticated tunnel network and, most importantly, they possess tremendous moral superiority. These fighters – often in jumpers and only lightly armed with guns and RPG’s – know what they are fighting for. They defend their people and their homeland while the occupiers only defend the “right” of settlers to kill and expel the native population. The Palestinian resistance fighters demonstrate unlimited courage and selflessness and are ready to die for their holy cause. These are heroes no less than the Algerian or the Vietnamese liberation fighters. Irrespective of our criticism on their ideology or their tactics, they deserve respect and support for their cause of defending their people!
The Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT) – including our comrades in Israel / Occupied Palestine – reiterates its unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle. In the current Gaza War – like in the past ones – we advocate the military victory of the resistance led by Hamas without lending political support to the program or all tactics of its leadership. [13]
Workers and popular mass organisation all over the world should intensify their solidarity activities with the Palestinian people. They need to implement a comprehensive boycott of the Israeli Apartheid state. Blockade and sabotage all forms of military support for Israel. For strikes, protests and consumer boycott against Israeli goods, pro-Israeli political and cultural events!
Victory to the Palestinian resistance! Defeat Israel!
[1] Jerusalem Post: Gallant: Hamas terrorists, including those involved in Oct. 7, surrendering in Gaza, 11 December 2023, https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-777598
[2] Jerusalem Post: IDF, Shin Bet chiefs meet in Khan Yunis, 11 December 2023, https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-777607
[3] Associated Press: Israeli defense chief resists pressure to halt Gaza offensive, says campaign will ‘take time’, December 11, 2023 https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-12-11-2023-2beb52343a9b25050d8df801ad977bbd
[4] Quoted in Zoran Kusovac: As Israel escalates Gaza war, its ‘kill-rate’ claims don’t add up, Al Jazeera, 9 December 2023, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/9/analysis-as-israel-escalates-gaza-war-its-kill-rate-claims-dont-add-up
[5] Concerning the numerous Israeli lies, see e.g. some articles by our comrade Yossi Schwartz, an life-long Anti-Zionist Jew living in Israel / Occupied Palestine: Do not believe one word of the Zionist-speak, 11.12.2023, https://the-isleague.com/do-not-believe-one-word-of-the-zionist-speak/; The fabrication of false evidences, 09.12.2023, https://the-isleague.com/the-fabrication-of-false-evidences/; Why Israel is claiming that on October 7th Hamas raped Israeli women and why the White House supports this claim, 06.12.2023, https://the-isleague.com/why-israel-is-claiming-that-on-october-7th-hamas-raped-israeli-women-and-why-the-white-house-supports-this-claim/
[6] See e.g. Rayhan Uddin: Israel-Palestine war: Israel accused of staging footage of Palestinian man surrendering weapons, 11 December 2023 https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-accused-staging-man-surrendering-weapons
[7] Brian Carter: The Order of Battle of Hamas’ Izz al Din al Qassem Brigades, Part 1: North and Central Gaza, Institute for the Study of War, December 8, 2023, p. 4
[8] The Guardian: Israel says operation against Hamas could last months as heavy fighting reported across Gaza, 12 December 2023 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/12/israel-hamas-war-how-long-idf-gaza-attack-palestine
[9] The New Arab: 5,000 Israeli soldiers wounded in Gaza war: report, 09 December 2023, https://www.newarab.com/news/5000-israeli-soldiers-wounded-gaza-war-report
[10] See on this e.g. See on this e.g. Michael Pröbsting: Gaza War: Workers in Europe Blockade Arms Factories Producing Weapons for Israel. Blockades, boycott, and strikes are crucial solidarity actions to stop the Western-sponsored genocide of the Palestinian people, 7 December 2023, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/workers-in-europe-blockade-arms-factories-producing-weapons-for-israel/; by the same author: Practical Examples of International Workers Solidarity with Gaza. Trade unions in North America and Europe target the Israeli war machinery as part of a global wave of mass mobilisations, 10 November 2023, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/practical-examples-of-international-workers-solidarity-with-gaza/; Indian Trade Unions Join the Global Pro-Palestine Solidarity Movement, 12 November 2023, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/indian-trade-unions-join-the-global-pro-palestine-solidarity-movement/
[11] See on this e.g. Michael Pröbsting: The Meaning of the UN Vote about a Ceasefire in Gaza, 28 October 2023, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/meaning-of-un-vote-about-ceasefire-in-gaza/
[12] Times of Israel: National security adviser indicates war against Hezbollah likely once Hamas is defeated, 9 December 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/national-security-adviser-indicates-war-against-hezbollah-likely-after-defeat-of-hamas/
[13] We refer readers to a special page on our website where the RCIT documents on the 2023 Gaza War are compiled: https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/compilation-of-articles-on-the-gaza-uprising-2023/.