Israel Matzav

Hamas learns the Goldstone lessons

Hamas has read Richard Richard Goldstone's report on Operation Cast Lead, and has learned its lessons well. For example, Goldstone concluded that Hamas was not using mosques to store weapons.

Hamas has also increased its use of civilian infrastructure, particularly mosques, which the terror group already used quite extensively for storage and launching rockets during the operation. Hamas is believed to have taken control of almost 80 percent of the mosques in Gaza, using them to store weapons and set up command-and-control centers.

Goldstone accused the IDF of deliberately targeting civilians. So Hamas is establishing a basis to make claims like that in the next war:

Hamas, is "padding" itself as well by setting up its command centers in large apartment buildings. This way, it believes, the IDF will not attack them by air, and will need to send ground forces deep into the population centers, where it will lose its technological advantage.

It's not easy to work your way up an apartment building floor by floor, is it?

Goldstone all but ignored the kidnapping of IDF corporal Gilad Shalit.

Hamas has also recently increased its efforts to dig what the IDF calls "offensive tunnels" close to the border with Israel, which the terror group could use to infiltrate into Israel and kidnap soldiers.

These tunnels are believed to be of strategic value for Hamas, which would only use them for large-scale attacks and high-value targets.

And on top of everything else, Hamas has managed to smuggle many new weapons into Gaza despite the 'blockade.'

Since Operation Cast Lead ended almost a year ago, Hamas has increased its weapons smuggling and today operates hundreds of tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor. It has smuggled in dozens of long-range Iranian-made rockets that can reach Tel Aviv as well as advanced anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles.

Hamas is believed to have a significant number of shoulder-launched anti-tank missiles and 9M113 Konkurs, which have a range of four kilometers and are capable of penetrating heavy armor.

In addition, Hamas is believed to have today a few thousand rockets, including several hundred with a range of 40 kilometers and several dozen with a range of between 60 and 80 km. Intelligence assessments are that Hamas smuggled the missiles into the Gaza Strip through tunnels, possibly in several components.

What could go wrong?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:17 PM