Many former senior defense officials in Israel have been issuing warnings about Israel’s plan for a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip.

As is well-known, the Hamas terror group, over many years, built a vast subterranean tunnel network [dubbed the “Gaza metro”] in the Strip, using, among other things, concrete, transferred in the guise of “humanitarian aid” to rebuild homes and institutions following previous operations.

The labyrinth of tunnels serves as a hiding place for the terrorists and their command centers, as a means of transporting goods and people, as a storage depot for ammunition and rockets, and as a way of surprising Israeli soldiers with sneak attacks, as happened on Sunday evening, when terrorist launched an anti-tank missile at Kibbutz Kissufim near the Gazan border, resulting in the death of Cpl. Tamir Barak, H’yd, 19, and the injury of three additional soldiers.

Some senior Israeli security officials, especially former ones, have been warning that the subterranean tunnels, which Hamas built under the homes of two million people in Gaza City, must be demolished using bunker-buster bombs prior to a ground incursion. The US reportedly recently provided Israel with thousands of bunker-buster bombs.

See the tunnels below:

Channel 12 reported on Monday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has met with a number of senior defense officials, current and former. One of them is Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yitzchak Brik, who has previously warned about scenarios such as the Hamas attack, in addition to the chance of Israel facing a multiple-front war – Hamas in the south, Hezbollah in the north, Palestinian Arabs in Yehudah and Shomron and Israeli-Arabs throughout Israel, and even Syria and Egypt. Brik, whom Netanyahu already met twice, has warned many times that the IDF is not prepared for war, much less a multi-front war.

“We need to gain time,” Brik told Netanyahu at their second meeting. “Hamas planned not only the attack but also Israel’s counterattack – entering now would play into their hands. We need to focus on massive bombings from the air and a humanitarian stranglehold on the Strip.”

Previously, Brik told Channel 12 that entering Gaza now would be a big mistake, saying that IDF soldiers aren’t ready for ground maneuvers, are not well-trained, and lack the necessary combat equipment.

“To enter Gaza now is to take heavy fire from explosives and anti-tank missiles,” Barik warned, saying that IDF soldiers aren’t well-prepared for such a scenario and the operation would incur a high death toll without inflicting enough damage on the enemy.

Brik believes that IDF soldiers must train for at least six months for an operation in Gaza and must be trained as well to fight against Hezbollah, which poses a much more powerful threat than Hamas. “After at least six months, the IDF will be prepared and ready to enter the Gaza Strip under better conditions,” he said. “It won’t take weeks or months. Whoever thinks that a ground entry into the Gaza Strip now will bring relief – is greatly mistaken.”

Barik also pointed out that a ground incursion into Gaza, in addition to war with Hezbollah, could lead to a regional war with [Arabs in] Yehudah and Shomron, [Arabs in] Jerusalem, Hezbollah, Yemen, and other countries that Israel is not prepared for.

“In the next six months we need to prepare our yishuvim with weapons, with civil defense units, prepare the home front, and prepare the IDF,” he said ominously.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)