During the 11-days of Operation Guardian of the Walls, there was an unprecedented level of rocket fire, closed airports in Israel and a record number of interceptions of Hamas rockets in a short period of time. When the ceasefire came into force in the early hours of Friday, there were celebrations by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank claiming victory. Israel also says it made impressive gains.
So what is the “scorecard” of the conflict?
Here is a look at what we know.
ISRAELI CLAIMS
The IDF says it killed at least 225 Gaza-based terrorists and 25 senior commanders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Israel also targeted the terrorists’ “metro” – underground tunnels that enable Hamas to move weapons and fighters underneath the Gaza Strip. Some 100 km. of the tunnel network was struck, with the IDF also hitting command and control centers located in the residences of 12 senior Hamas commanders in the Gaza Strip, used for terror purposes.
Israel carried out numerous strikes on the residences of Hamas members. For instance, it hit the operational apartments that “belonged to Hamas operatives, including those of Ja’adi Cha’alah, company commander in Hamas’s Al-Farqin Battalion; Jamal Alaeda, company commander in Hamas’s Northern Battalion; and Muhammad Shuaf, company commander for Hamas’s Nuhba Battalion,” according to an IDF statement. One of the houses that was struck was the home of Izz al-Din Hadad, a senior member of the terror group’s military wing and head of combat support during the recent hostilities.
IDF statements also noted it struck “the house of Amjad Abu Najeh, the commander of the Nuhba Battalion in the Gaza Strip, who directed attacks from his home; the house of Ibrahim Muhammad Mustafa Qareh, the commander of the Southern Khan Yunis Battalion, who was involved in shooting attacks against IDF forces, as well as responsible for rocket fire at Israel; the house of Ahmed Shamali, the commander of the Nuhba Battalion in Shejaia – the building contained military communications infrastructure and stored weapons; and the home of Nasim Abu ‘Ajuna, commander of the Beit Lahiya Battalion, whose house contained military infrastructure.”
The IDF and Israel Securities Authority (ISA) also said they targeted Hasam Abu-Harbid, commander of the Northern Division in the Islamic Jihad terror organization. The IDF hit the houses of commanders of the Hamas Central Camps Brigade as well as the Karrara and Al-Parkain battalions, “both of which served as Hamas military infrastructure.”
In addition, Israel said it struck “a large number of rocket launch sites and underground rocket launchers, among them a multi-barreled rocket launcher, from which rockets were fired at Jerusalem. A number of terror squads on their way to launch rockets into Israeli territory were also struck, along with a Hamas post which included an anti-tank missile launcher in Jabalya.”
Hamas forces in Gaza’s upscale Rimal neighborhood were also hit, as well as storage warehouses. “In these warehouses were paragliders intended for aerial infiltration into Israeli territory and Hamas air-force equipment was stored [there].” Israel also took out a Hamas unmanned submarine and other naval vessels. Observation posts and military compounds were hit as well as a joint IDF and ISA raid on a complex and a “first-of-its-kind operation to simultaneously eliminate a number of senior” Hamas commanders in Gaza and Khan Yunis.
Hamas Kamikaze drones were all shot down by Iron Dome and F-16s, including at least six Hamas UAVs. Israel said that the Iron Dome system achieved 90% success against thousands of missiles fired from Gaza. These included 4,340 that were launched, of which 640 fell in the coastal enclave. Overall, a total of some 430 Hamas and Islamic Jihad launchers were struck and some 20 rocket launching operatives were killed. The last days of the campaign saw 30 rocket launching posts struck. In addition, during the first week, Israel hit a number of anti-tank missile teams in Gaza.
While Israel carried out some 570 airstrikes on rocket launchers, it also took down several large buildings in Gaza. These included 10 government and 11 security targets, as well as five banks linked to Hamas or terrorism. Israel targeted the Al Jaala media building, receiving criticism for hitting a building that housed international media operating in Gaza. When it was struck, it was the fourth multi-story building Israel hit, and critics around the world accused Israel of destroying civilian infrastructure. Israel said the buildings were used by Hamas.
In the first week of the war, Israel used some 160 aircraft in one operation to begin the strikes on Hamas underground tunnel network. Some 150 targets were struck with 450 missiles in 40 minutes. Controversy erupted over whether international media was briefed about a ground incursion that never happened and which was perhaps designed to deceive Hamas.
HAMAS CLAIMS
Hamas boasted of new drones that it had developed and said it targeted infrastructure in Israel with them. It also boasted of a new long-range rocket called Ayyash, with a range of up to 250 km. It was able to fire massive barrages of up to 140 rockets over several minutes, trying to overwhelm the Iron Dome system. It targeted Israel’s airports, according to Hamas and Iranian media.
Hamas targeted an Israeli bus with a Kornet anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) on May 20 and used similar missiles on other days of the conflict. It said it targeted the Ramon Airport near Eilat and also other air bases and a chemical factory in Nahal Oz. Iranian Press TV said that Hamas had also targeted Iron Dome batteries.
The terror group ruling the Gaza Strip, as well as pro-Palestinian activists, pointed to the death toll of civilians in Gaza, claiming that 227 people, including 102 women and children, were killed and 1,400 reportedly injured. In Israel, 12 were killed, including an IDF soldier in a jeep hit with an ATGM on May 13 and two foreign workers on May 18.
Hamas took credit for redrawing the equation of power in the region, asserting that Israel is now in a state of decline. Iran says that Israel gave in to a ceasefire due to the “resistance’s heavy rocket barrage.”
Egypt helped broker the ceasefire and Israel was pressured by the US to sign on. China led efforts to condemn Israel at the UN and only Hungary helped forestall greater critique in a possible EU statement. Israel received some support from Greek, Slovak, Czech and German diplomats who visited during the conflict.
Hamas commanders and Iran boasted of new capabilities against Israel during this conflict. Rockets were launched from Lebanon and Syria at Israel and a drone was flown from Iraq or Syria. Rockets even flew near Kiryat Yam not far from Haifa. These incidents, as well as protests in Jerusalem, the West Bank and within Arab communities in Israel, as well as in Jordan and Lebanon were serious. Iraqi Shi’ite militias said they sent fighters to join the battle against Israel.
Iran and Hamas portrayed the clashes in Israeli cities as a possible intifada and a major shift after decades of malaise. Israel was forced to increase security forces in the country, send Border Police to Lod and increase IDF presence in the West Bank in addition to calling up some 10,000 reserve soldiers to deal with the various fronts and crises. Major clashes led to concern over civil conflict in Israel and the use of illegal weapons.
For a few nights Lod looked more like a mob-run city than a secure one. People said dozens of calls to police went unanswered and they had to flee the city.
In Acre, Nazareth, Kfar Kana, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Rahat, Umm el-Fahm and many other places there were clashes and lynchings on both sides. An uptick in attacks in the West Bank and a car ramming in Sheikh Jarrah added to the tensions. Former Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal called for a new intifada.
The conflict also mobilized anti-Israel views around the world. Turkey and other forces opposing Israel consulted with Iran about a full-court diplomatic press against the Jewish state. Gangs of men in New York, California, London and across Europe attacked Jews and synagogues, threatening to “rape” Jewish women. Rabbis were attacked.
The unprecedented outpouring of far-right Palestinian nationalist hooligans driving around in convoys searching for Jews to attack in the US and Europe was a new phenomenon caused by this conflict.
Although some politicians condemned it, there were no counter protests in solidarity with Jewish minorities. Some far-left Jewish activists in the US reacted to the war by saying they had nothing to do with Israel and that it should be destroyed or become part of a one-state solution.
Several members of Congress, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) harshly bashed Israel, calling for an end to military sales. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and several others called Israel an apartheid state. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) wrote that “apartheid states aren’t democracies” and her colleague Rep. Cori Bush (D-Missouri) wrote the same thing.
Turkey’s president called Israel a “terror state” and Chinese CGTN broadcast an antisemitic comment about Israel. Pakistan’s foreign minister went on CNN and made antisemitic comments. Several antisemitic Pakistan celebrities praised Hitler during the operation.
The anti-Israel axis led by Turkey and Iran, along with Pakistan and some other countries joining the chorus, mobilized during this war. The US State Department condemned Turkey’s antisemitic outbursts. It appears that antisemitism reached new heights during this war.
COMPARISONS TO 2014 WAR
Compared to the 2014 war which lasted some seven weeks, Hamas fired around the same number of rockets in only 11 days. It increased its volume and range. While Israel did some 6,000 airstrikes in the 2014 war and a ground incursion, it appeared to do less this time.
For instance in the 2014 war only six civilians in Israel were killed, including one foreign worker, while there were 67 IDF soldiers killed in the fighting. An estimated 2,125 Palestinians were killed in 2014, and Israel estimated that some 44% of them were Hamas members or other terrorists. Israel killed far less Hamas members this time, appearing to concentrate on mid-level or more senior commanders than the rank and file.
So while Israel’s overwhelming defensive military force appears to have been victorious, Hamas’s brazen, novel and unexpected aggression, as well as the internal strife it catalyzed within the Jewish state, surprised its adversary and gave the terror group some cause to celebrate.