An Israeli invasion of Gaza will face an enemy that has built a formidable armoury with Iran's help, dug a vast tunnel network to evade attackers and has shown in past ground wars it can exact a heavier toll on Israeli troops each time.
tanks on Gaza's border and ministers suggest the start of an invasion is a matter of when not if, Israel's generals will look to lessons learned from past ground offensives in 2008 and 2014 that also aimed to smash the Palestinian Islamist groupeach time and on Oct. 7 staged its most devastating display when its fighters killed more than 1,300 Israelis - most of them civilians - in theNeither side can know exactly what to expect in a ground war.
"The purpose is to defeat the entire military capabilities and military apparatus of Hamas and that will demand a long operation," an Israeli security source told Reuters. Hundreds of thousands of reservists are being mobilised by Israel for combat against fighters who one former official in Israel's Shin Bet security service said could number 20,000.Saleh Al-Arouri, deputy chief of Hamas politburo, told Al Jazeera that before Hamas unleashed its assault on Israel it had a defence plan that was stronger than its attack plan.
Since 2007, when Hamas took control of Gaza from the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, Israel has launched two major land incursions. Each time it suffered a higher death toll of soldiers - nine killed in 2008 and 66 in 2014. A former senior Israeli commander, who asked not to be identified, said confrontations like Jenin still offered lessons as the military prepared for a Gaza incursion.
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