En lieu of anything remotely serious from me, here's the inimitable Armchair Warlord on last night's raid into the Strip:
Update: Israeli troops withdrew after some skirmishing. It's unclear whether they ever actually entered Gaza proper or engaged from beyond the fence, or how well the respective sides came off.
The fundamental problem the IDF and the Israeli government in general faces right now is that to accomplish their stated goal of destroying Hamas, bombing, shelling and armored incursions into open areas of the Gaza Strip (which they had restricted themselves to in previous rounds of fighting) will not do the job. At some point Israeli APCs are going to have to roll up to the first line of shattered concrete housing blocks, drop ramps and dismount infantry. And those infantrymen are going to have to get behind their assault rifles and go to work. Block by block, building by building, room by room, through an army of enemies and an ocean of civilians, until the job is done.
I think at this point Netanyahu has placed an order with the butcher for a bloodbath and now he doesn't want to pay the bill.
I won't comment but will repeat:
At some point Israeli APCs are going to have to roll up to the first line of shattered concrete housing blocks, drop ramps and dismount infantry. And those infantrymen are going to have to get behind their assault rifles and go to work. Block by block, building by building, room by room, through an army of enemies and an ocean of civilians, until the job is done.
Serious business.
Pax et Bonum,
LSP
