‘Israel on losing end in Gaza war’: Former Mossad deputy chief
A former member of the Israeli spy agency has described as “futile” the regime’s ongoing war in the besieged Gaza Strip, stressing that Tel Aviv is on the losing end.
Ram Ben-Barak, a member of the Israeli parliament who served as deputy director of the Mossad, made the remarks in an interview with Israeli public radio on Saturday.
“This war lacks a clear objective, and it’s evident that we’re unequivocally losing it,” Ben-Barak said.
“We are forced to engage in fighting in the same areas and end up losing more soldiers. We’re also facing setbacks on the international stage, our relations with the US deteriorating significantly, and the Israeli economy in decline,” he said.
“Show me one thing we have succeeded in,” Ben-Barak added.
His remarks came after al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, said they have killed 15 Israeli soldiers east of the Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah earlier in the day.
According to Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida, in the past 10 days, Palestinian fighters have targeted 100 Israeli military vehicles, including tanks, armored personnel carriers as well as bulldozers. They have inflicted heavy casualties on Israeli soldiers by blowing up tunnels, launching rockets and mortars, and through sniping and close-quarters combat.
The spokesman for the military wing of Hamas says Palestinian fighters are prepared for a long battle of attrition against Israel.
Fighting is raging in Gaza as Israel intensifies its ground invasion of Rafah despite international concerns for the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in the southern city.
Israeli strikes and intense clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters rocked the city late Friday and early Saturday, with reports of shelling in the city’s southeast and jets bombarding its eastern areas.
Rafah, which quite recently was a shelter for more than 1.4 million Palestinian civilians, has seen some 640,000 of its inhabitants flee to other areas due to Israel’s looming full invasion.
Rafah has seen a new wave of heavy Israeli bombardments as the first so-called humanitarian aid entered Gaza via a US-built pier.
Last week, US President Joe Biden warned that he would delay the transfer of offensive bombs and artillery shells to Israel if the regime launched a full-scale aggression on Rafah.
Israel launched its genocidal war against Gaza in October 7 last year. Since then, at least 35,303 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and another 79,261 individuals have sustained injuries.
More than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced during the war as well.
