Lucas Leiroz, journalist, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant.
Israel’s recent massive attacks on the Gaza Strip make it clear that the Zionist state plans to destroy the city completely. However, the real intentions seem to be even more extreme, since, according to an American journalist, the objective is to make the city something close to WWII Hiroshima, but without the use of nuclear weapons.
Renowned reporter Seymour Hersh, citing internal sources in the IDF, shared this information in a recent article in his column on the Substack portal. According to him, the IDF has no concern for the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians, with a real intention of bombing Gaza until achieving a scenario similar to that of Hiroshima. With this, there would be no need for a big land invasion, with the focus of the infantry soldiers being simply on annihilating the Hamas’ soldiers hiding in the bunkers when they tried to leave in search of food and water.
“Gaza City is in the process of being turned into Hiroshima with no nuclear weapons used (…) American-made bombs in the Israeli arsenal, including those known as ‘bunker busters’, may be targeted on the underground tunnel systems where Hamas manufactured the weapons and conducted planning for the horrific attacks in southern Israel on October 7 (…) Under the Israeli plans, there would be no need for a massive ground invasion (…) [However, they] would be needed for hunting down those Hamas members underground who choose to surrender (…) The official told me that the Hamas soldiers who would emerge from the tunnels desperate for food were seen by the Israelis as starving rats who would be met with poisoned food”, he said.
Hersh reports that Netanyahu believes that by following this strategic plan he will be able to defeat Hamas troops more efficiently, avoiding wearing down the IDF in a prolonged war of attrition. Humanitarian costs are not an issue for the Israeli government, and there is no concern that these tactics could lead to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians dying.
Another interesting point in Hersh’s text is that he reports an overconfidence on the part of the IDF. The journalist quotes a source who claims to have disregarded American support and advises, saying that the Israeli forces are absolutely confident in their own fighting capacity to resolve the Palestinian conflict alone.
“All the American services are jumping on it… but Israel is saying, ‘Go back. We don’t want your stuff’… There are no better pilots today than those in the Israeli Air Forces. Bibi’s got it under control and no Israeli is going to worry about the fate of the citizens of Gaza”, Hersh’s unnamed military source said.
In fact, in addition to being absolutely anti-humanitarian, the Israeli plan seems quite wrong from a strategic point of view. Bombing Gaza until reaching a nuclear-like scenario will be terrible for civilians, but it will have low impact on Hamas’ war strategy and will not prevent the Palestinian militia from wearing down the IDF in a prolonged asymmetric conflict. Believing that Hamas soldiers will simply “emerge from the tunnels desperate for food” and then be eliminated by the Israelis seems quite naive, since Hamas is certainly already preparing in advance to avoid this type of situation.
In practice, things could turn out very differently than expected by the IDF. Israel would have to use its anti-bunker bombs on many channels simultaneously to neutralize Hamas’ underground weapons stockpiles. And it would be necessary to conduct these operations under heavy fire on the surface – not just from Palestinian militias, but possibly also from Iran’s proxy groups affiliated with the so-called “Axis of Resistance”.
Furthermore, it is necessary to emphasize how once again overconfidence appears to be a problem for Israel. Tel Aviv is confident in its ability to defeat the enemy relying solely on its great military technological capacity, without taking into account factors of asymmetric warfare, such as the great resistance of guerrilla groups, sabotage actions and surprise attacks. The last time the IDF and Israeli intelligence acted with arrogance and overconfidence the result was precisely the Hamas attack of October 7, so a similar failure could be repeated in a poorly planned invasion of Gaza.
Indeed, while Tel Aviv’s forces believe they can achieve a “final solution” for Gaza through bombing and extermination on the ground, military experts are increasingly skeptical about the possibility of an Israeli victory in the event of an invasion. For example, former UN inspector and war veteran Scott Ritter commented on the case stating:
“If the Israelis go into Gaza, what will they do? I will be very frank now: they will die. They will die in numbers the Israelis have never seen before (…) Hamas is waiting for them (…) Hamas is luring Israelis into a death trap in Gaza. And this is what will happen to the Israeli army when it enters Gaza – it will be destroyed.”
It seems that in this plan Israel will only achieve one of its objectives: destroying Gaza, killing civilians. As for rapidly defeating Hamas, it is very unlikely to happen. The Israeli authorities should seriously consider the opinion of experts and avoid making decisions that will only generate unnecessary deaths and will not bring real victories.
