You’ve reached a dead end

The late Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani wrote a famous poem titled “The Fortune Teller” sung by the late singer Abdel Halim Hafez. He says at the end of it, “your grief will grow until it becomes a tree and someday, oh my son, you will return defeated, heart-broken, and at that point you will realise that you had been chasing a trace of smoke, for your beloved has no land, no home, no address.”

We are not reading fortunes, but are reading the reality that is supported by these words that express what is happening to the Zionist enemy, which launched a blatant, brutal, barbaric aggression against the Gaza Strip more than two months ago, committing the most horrific massacres against defenceless civilians, most of whom are children and women, demolishing buildings on top of their residents, and setting fires across all of Gaza, burning everything. Despite this, it still hasn’t achieved any of the goals it set out at the start of its attacks; to eliminate Hamas from existence and return the prisoners or war held by the resistance using armed force. Instead, its soldiers shamefully drowned in the mud of steadfast Gaza and are being defeated, as admitted by their military leaders. Israeli military expert, Barham Meir, told Channel 12, “We have to admit that Hamas has won, and continuing our arrogance will lead to the downfall of the Israeli army,” adding that within 24 hours 25 armoured vehicles were destroyed, and if we assume that three soldiers were killed in each vehicle, the total number is 74 soldiers, which is a loss that Israel has not suffered in its history. The loss can be sensed or felt in the sad tone of the Israeli occupation army’s spokesperson who said: “We lost many of our best soldiers in Gaza.”

Perhaps the clearest image of this is that of former Zionist Chief of Staff and current minister in the war government, Gadi Eisenkot, crying over the death of his son Gal Meir Eisenkot, who tried to enter a tunnel in Jabaliya with a group of soldiers, but the heroic resistance fighters were waiting for him and returned him dead with the rest of his comrades. The occupation army announced that its death toll reached 86 soldiers, but this is a lie as it has lost many more since the beginning of the ground operations in the Gaza Strip.

Eisenkot did not know or imagine, while he was following the progress of the aggression from the operations room, that his son was missing, and that he was chasing a train of smoke, as Qabbani said, and fighting ghosts they did not know in a land whose terrain, mountains, countryside, neighbourhoods, or alleys they do not know, especially after they destroyed it, and it became a scorched land known only to its indigenous people, the true owners of the land whose roots speak their name.

Read: Israel blows up the faculty of medicine of the Islamic University in Gaza

The occupation army infiltrated Gaza with arrogance and overconfidence, believing that it possessed the military power that would allow it to achieve a quick victory. It did not imagine that it had entered hell with its own feet. When it entered Deir Al-Balah and Khan Yunis in particular, they found themselves at a complete loss and in an endless maze, which made their generals desperate and frustrated, and they began talking about a second and third phase, although they hadn’t finished the first phase of the ground invasion. Their forces could not achieve any progress or firm control of any part of Gaza. The firm combat doctrine that does not move an inch belongs to the Qassam fighters and the amazing innovations of the resistance fighters in the operations to destroy the occupation’s military vehicles. This has driven the occupation leaders crazy, so they vented their anger by killing defenceless civilians or by abusing them, as they did in the UNRWA school. They removed boys and young men from shelter schools, stripped them and photographed them naked lying on the ground, claiming that they were Hamas fighters. If a journalist from Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper wasn’t among them, they wouldn’t have been exposed and their deception, false claims and lies would not have been revealed to the entire world, along with their brutal crimes. However, the Western countries and Zionist Arab regime continue to offer this usurping entity unlimited support, while the international community does not view the Palestinians with justice or humanity, because it is an insincere society without a conscience; a one-eyed society that only looks with Zionist eyes. Damn this international community with its double standards and damned be its fake slogans and its civilisation that it brags about.

Watch: Palestinian Ambassador to France conveys the lack of a safe haven in Gaza

The Zionist enemy has suffered a defeat it did not expect, despite the unlimited military and logistical support from Washington, Britain, France and Germany, and the financial and moral support from the Zionist Arab rulers. It entered the trap of Gaza and its soft sand, which will be thick, full of thorns and hot, and which will roast their bodies and will not have mercy on them. The occupation has its tanks and personnel carriers which continue to attack, but its forces still keep calling into ambushes at tunnel openings and on circles of explosive devices. The resistance is still fatally fierce in Hajar Al-Deek, Beit Lahia the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhoods, as well as in Shuja’iyya neighbourhood, the Jabaliya camp and others. This has forced the occupation army to withdraw most of its soldiers that went into the west and north of Gaza.

The valiant resistance in Gaza, led by Hamas, is present with most of its strength in the fierce daily battles, and its ferocity has even increased with the occupation army moving its forces to Khan Yunis. The resistance has moved from flexible defence in Gaza City to direct confrontation in Khan Yunis and its surrounding areas. This became apparent with the high rates of casualties among the ranks of the occupation soldiers and its senior officials in particular, prompting the Zionist leaders to admit the death of dozens of elite forces. Each day is constant exhaustion and its war on Gaza has turned into a prolonged war of exhaustion that can only be ended with an international agreement that imposes the conditions of the resistance and to which the occupation adheres. There has been news of secret communication between Netanyahu and the concerned countries to mediate to end the war in any way possible. There is also news that the US gave Netanyahu until the end of the year to end his war, contrary to what is said in public and the aggressive statements he makes.

Washington has almost lost hope in any possible victory for the occupying army. It was surprised by the remarkable, legendary steadfastness of the people of Gaza, despite the martyrdom of more than 20,000 Gazans and despite the starvation, thirst, destruction and devastation that took place and is still taking place. Washington had believed that all of this would backfire on Hamas and that the people of Gaza would turn against it and ask it to hand over the captives and end the fighting. Instead, the people of Gaza are rallying around Hamas even more, supporting it and backing it, as well as calling on it to continue to fight to rid their land of the Zionist occupation. This is why US President Joe Biden’s administration is afraid that Israel’s shame will reflect on Washington’s image that is already cracked and that Biden will lose his chance to be re-elected as president. he is afraid he will follow Netanyahu to the bin of history, but they are already both lingering there.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.