How Israel maintained the element of surprise
It's pretty clear from this article that one of the reasons that Israel was able to surprise Hamas in Gaza on Saturday morning was that no one knew when the operation would take place - and until Wednesday no one knew whether it would take place at all (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago, even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. According to the sources, Barak maintained that although the lull would allow Hamas to prepare for a showdown with Israel, the Israeli army needed time to prepare, as well.Read the whole thing.
Barak gave orders to carry out a comprehensive intelligence-gathering drive which sought to map out Hamas' security infrastructure, along with that of other militant organizations operating in the Strip.
This intelligence-gathering effort brought back information about permanent bases, weapon silos, training camps, the homes of senior officials and coordinates for other facilities.
The plan of action that was implemented in Operation Cast Lead remained only a blueprint until a month ago, when tensions soared after the IDF carried out an incursion into Gaza during the ceasefire to take out a tunnel which the army said was intended to facilitate an attack by Palestinian militants on IDF troops.
On November 19, following dozens of Qassam rockets and mortar rounds which exploded on Israeli soil, the plan was brought for Barak's final approval. Last Thursday, on December 18, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the defense minister met at IDF headquarters in central Tel Aviv to approve the operation.
Can you imagine Olmert's first defense minister,
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:39 AM
2 Comments:
It would have been more impressive if Gaza had been totally flattened. That would have been a "real surprise." The terrorists are never going to respect Israel's moral scruples, which in my opinion is completely misplaced. War is not about demonstrating humane sentiment or indulging in moral hand-wringing but its true objective is in fact to bring about the enemy's complete destruction.
as long as criminaly insane traitorous gangster Olmert is PM nothing will change,
this traitorous swine is an enemy colaborator working with israel's enemies to hasten its destruction/
IDF if you want to make sure you will win this war in gaza,you must first get rid of this traitorous human garbage
chaim
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