| | | | | | | Hello. We have more news today about some of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. One soldier has been released on Sunday, Israel’s military said, while the Islamist group has published a video of three women in captivity a few hours ago. My colleagues Jeremy Bowen and Paul Adams help us understand the challenges that Israel’s government and military are facing - right now, as its troops on the ground are facing Hamas on its turf, but also on a long-term basis, as experts and diplomats warn that Israel lacks a plan for when the war ends. |
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| | | | | Expert Insights |  Southern Israel | | The scale of Israel’s challenge in Gaza |  | | Israel’s military might have to engage in house-to-house fighting. Credit: Reuters | | Israel has an overwhelming advantage on Hamas - its firepower and manpower outrank the group. But it’s still facing a tough challenge as its military seems to be trying to circle Gaza City, in the north of the Strip. |  | | Jeremy Bowen, International editor |
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| It's very hard to work out what is exactly happening on the ground in Gaza because the Israelis are managing communications very, very carefully. At one point this morning it seemed like the Israelis had briefly cut off one of the two north-south roads in Gaza. A video showed a car approaching an Israeli tank on the road, then hurriedly turning around while the tank opened fire and an explosion followed.
It may be because they might be trying to surround Gaza City, which the military sees as the key nest of Hamas. I think if they try to do that, then the military will have to engage in house-to-house fighting. That said, I'm not entirely sure the Israeli military have enough forces to completely seal up a place as big and complex as Gaza City. Hamas is highly embedded in the city, including with a network of tunnels, and one would think they’ve been preparing and thinking about what Israel might do. So this is going to be a big challenge for the Israelis. |
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| Questions Answered | | Experts warn Israel has no plan after war ends |  | | Israeli tanks lined up in southern Israel. Credit: Reuters |
| | Since the 7 October attacks from Hamas which killed 1,400 people, Israeli officials have repeatedly said they intend to uproot Hamas from the Gaza Strip, militarily and politically. But beyond the application of relentless, overwhelming military might - that has so far killed at least 8,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza - it's not clear how this ambition will be achieved, experts say. |  | | Paul Adams, Diplomatic correspondent |
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| | What do we know of Israel's long-term plans? | | Western diplomats say they're conducting intense discussions with Israel about the future, but that so far nothing is clear. "There absolutely isn't a fixed plan," one told me. "You can sketch out a few ideas on paper, but making them real is going to take weeks, months of diplomacy." | | What are analysts making of Israel's operation? | | "You cannot promote such a historic move without a plan about the day after," says Dr Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University's Moshe Dayan Centre. Dr Milshtein, a former head of the Department for Palestinian Affairs in Israeli Military Intelligence, fears that planning has barely begun. Hamas, he says, is an idea, not something Israel can simply erase. "It's not like Berlin in 1945, when you stuck a flag over the Reichstag and that was that." | | Any parallel with Iraq? | | A better parallel, Dr Milshtein says, is Iraq in 2003, where US-led forces attempted to remove all traces of Saddam Hussein's regime. "De-Baathification", as it was called, was a disaster. It left hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civil servants and members of the armed forces out of work, sowing the seeds for a devastating insurgency. | | | | • | ‘A time for war’: In a press conference, Mr. Netanyahu has referred to Pearl Harbour and the 9/11 attacks in his rejection of calls for a ceasefire. “The Bible says ‘there is a time for peace, and a time for war’,” he said, “this is a time for a war”. |
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| | The big picture | | If this bust could talk |  | | Made by French artist Edmé Bouchardon, the bust is of 18th Century Highland MP and landowner Sir John Gordon. Credit: High Life Highland |
| | The fate of a 295-year-old bust is the subject of debate in Scotland. The statue was bought by Invergordon Town Council for £5 ($6) in 1930, but went missing for several years before being rediscovered in a shed in the 1990s. Now that a private overseas buyer has offered £2.5m ($3m) for the marble work, the council faces a dilemma over whether to cash in. | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | Try an ancient dish | | A deceptively simple soup offers a celebration of apricots. | | |
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– Jules |
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