The IDF’s air and ground forces have increased their joint training of varying scenarios for the upcoming invasion of Gaza.
Despite an extended delay of the invasion into the third week of the war, all signals from top IDF officials on Monday are that the invasion is still not a question of if, but of when.
IDF sources have said that Iron Dome’s success has given Israel more time to select whatever moment its political echelon chooses to invade the restive coastal enclave.
According to the military, both mandatory service and reservist soldiers remain in a state of high motivation and the current drills are high-quality, interweaving infantry, tanks, artillery, and aerial forces.
There is an unusual increase in crossover meetings at all levels between the air and ground forces to work on “nuts and bolts” type issues for urban warfare, beyond just cooperation at the higher strategic levels.
The IDF distributes an additional 10,000 bulletproof vests.
Presuming the invasion is longer and deeper into Gaza’s cities than ever before, it will be harder for the air force to protect the ground forces and to distinguish between hitting them and hitting Hamas terrorists.
Also, with at least 200 hostages in Gaza, there will be new scenarios and timing issues that the air and ground forces will need to address, such as making last-minute determinations about an attack where there is uncertainty about whether hostages are in the vicinity of a potential battle.
Another 10,000 bulletproof vests
Besides ongoing training, the IDF announced it had handed out another 10,000 bulletproof vests to reservists.
The military said it would continue to hand out bulletproof vests and other critical items to them, though it was unclear what the pace would be and if there would be enough for all 360,000 reservists (taking into account that many of them are neither in combat nor in the infantry.)
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