BEIT HANOUN

COMMENTATORS ARE BEGINNING to remark on the developing similarity between the current Israeli offensive in Gaza and the Battle of Stalingrad during World War Two.

“Yes, the optics are remarkably familiar to those who have studied the German advance towards the Volga in 1942, and the current Israeli push into Gaza,” says Ulrich Panzer, a German historian whose three-volume masterpiece, Kaput: Stalingrad to Kursk, is already in its fifth edition since being published in 2019.

“Obviously, there is no Volga River across which Hamas can feed men and material – put there are tunnels from Egypt – and perhaps even from the West Bank. And, of course, the weather is better, that goes without saying. But the long strip of land backing on to water means that complete encirclement is impossible. The Israelis have to fight their way up and down the coast, and then hold that territory. Meanwhile Hamas keeps appearing behind Israeli positions, and sometimes directly beneath them. They have had to give up Beit Hanoun because of this problem. If this goes on for months, the effect on the nerves of young Israelis will begin to show.”

Meanwhile, millions of Gazan civilians continue to cower before the Israeli bombing onslaught, which has killed thousands of them to date. Yeshua Ben Karpenter, a Jewish peace activist from Galilee, says the more of Gaza the Israelis capture, the bigger their problems may become.

“Eventually, if they try to take all of Gaza, the IDF (Israel Defence Force) will run into these civilians big time, and trying to filter out Hamas fighters from that mess will be near impossible. Because Hamas will be recruiting more volunteers as time goes on. At some point, even if the Israelis kill every current member of Hamas, they will find a whole new Hamas facing them. Probably even more fanatical than the present lot. Which is saying something.”