Optics and throwing off the enemy are key reasons for the ambiguity in what appear so far to be smaller land operations, analysts say.
Israel’s military is expanding its operations in the Gaza Strip, but has avoided calling it a «ground invasion» despite sending tanks into the territory. That’s by design, security analysts say.
Saturday marked the start of the «second stage» of Israel’s war against Hamas, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning that the fight will be «long and difficult,» amid rising risks of a wider Middle East conflict.
A key reason for the ambiguity in what appear to be smaller land operations, rather than a full-scale land assault, is to throw off the enemy, analysts say.
«They seem to want to keep Hamas guessing if this is really it or just a short, sharp strike op,» a former British army intelligence officer, who spoke anonymously due to professional restrictions, told CNBC.
Another reason is optics. Israeli strategists are wary of triggering a major response from its enemies Iran and Hezbollah, the well-armed Iranian-backed militant organization in Lebanon on Israel’s northern border, says Ryan Bohl, a senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at Rane.
«The biggest reason they won’t call it an ‘invasion’ is PR and optics, as they aren’t trying to create a political incentive for Hezbollah and Iran to escalate and they don’t want the negative international attention from such a massed assault,» Bohl said.
An invasion would also imply the IDF wants to permanently occupy captured land, which top Israeli officials have expressly opposed, given the high cost and danger to Israeli troops of a military re-occupation of the Gaza Strip.
The expanded ground attacks follow more than three weeks of heavy aerial bombardment by the Israeli Defense Forces of the densely populated Gaza Strip, home to over 2 million Palestinians who have lived under an Israeli blockade since 2007. The IDF says a ground offensive is the only way to ensure the destruction of Hamas’ intricate network of underground tunnels, adding that it is only targeting Hamas positions in its campaign.
The Israeli bombings came in response to an unprecedented terrorist attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct. 7 in southern Israel, which killed more than 1,300 people in Israel and saw more than 240 civilians and military personnel taken hostage into Gaza, the IDF says.
