More FLIR footage released officially by the Israeli Defense Forces shows a massive armor buildup and movements in and around Gaza. The footage appears to show huge numbers of armored vehicles preparing for and beginning ground based attacks against Gaza.

It has come to my attention from Twitter that there are people who have absolutely no idea that there are multiple types and styles of war. The crowd that hooked themselves on Ukraine, and let that be their first and only source of information and knowledge of combat seem to think that these tanks are sitting ducks, and are completely incapable of protecting themselves from attacks by Hamas.

Newsflash: Hamas is a terror organization. They would be correct in assuming that if Russia or Ukraine did this the situation would turn into a tank graveyard in hours. In Gaza however, where Hamas is the primary military threat and target, an operation like this is perfectly rational. The Ukrainians and Russian have drone pilots who can drop a crate of hand grenades a day on targets of opportunity. Hamas likely has less than dozens of crates of hand grenades for the entire organization and even fewer drones to drop them.

On top of that, Israel has complete and total air dominance over Hamas. Israeli pilots can fly attack helicopters within hundreds of meters of Hamas positions with very little fear of anything outside of rocket propelled grenades being hurled at them.

For the time being, unless another Arab Nation-State decides to get involved with this conflict, the Israelis have pretty much free reign to do whatever is needed to root out Hamas fighters in their holes. The only way Hamas can negate the advantages of the Israeli Military is to move into their tunnel systems, where they can force the IDF to fight with light infantry instead of armor and air support. Even then, the Hamas fighters would have to compete against better trained and night vision equipped Israeli Soldiers who are entirely capable of fighting them nose-to-nose in the dark.

The IDFs actual largest hurdle in the entire situation is preventing civilian casualties and collateral damage, which is the one thing that Hamas and the PIJ have effectively weaponized against the Israelis.

About the Author

Josh Brooks

Josh is an American writer and former USMC machine gunner with eight years of experience in ground combat arms throughout the GWOT. He is currently based in Texas and specializes in combat footage analysis and digital marketing.Follow Josh at OfficialJoshBrooks.com