‘Israeli troops can face grueling warfare with Hamas springing traps’

London: Israel’s armed forces have massed tens of thousands of soldiers, tanks, heavy armour and artillery along the Gaza border ahead of a much-anticipated ground assault which aims to crush Hamas in retaliation for October 7 attacks, media reports said.

Despite its killing of Israeli civilians and its considerable stockpiles of rockets, Hamas remains a political group with a heavily armed militia, Daily Mail reported.

Israel is considered to be one of the most advanced militaries with state of the art equipment and technology.

The IDF currently has 169,500 active military personnel and 465,000 reservists – a large portion has now been called up by the Israeli government. This equates to the world’s third largest active military per-capita, and the world’s sixth largest reserve military, Daily Mail reported.

By contrast, Hamas is thought to have as many as 40,000 fighters, all of whom are crammed into Gaza, a small 140-square-mile strip of land home to more than 2.3 million people – with limited training and resources.

However, the military experts have warned that an armed Israeli incursion into Gaza will not be easy.

Defenders are typically thought to have a 3-1 advantage over attackers, and Israel’s troops would face grueling urban and guerrilla warfare, with Hamas springing traps against the IDF at every chance they get, Daily Mail reported.

Some analysts have drawn comparisons to the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017), in which the western-backed Iraqi government eventually prevailed in liberating the city from its ISIS conquerors – but only at a huge cost of military and civilians, Daily Mail reported.

Israeli military has long been supported by the US with $3.3 billion in congressionally mandated annual funding, plus another $500 million toward missile defence technology that protects its skies from Hamas rockets.