Hamas on war footing, Hamas threatens to kill captive
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00:00 Now for more on this story, I'm joined by our Foreign Affairs Editor, Angela Diffley.
00:04 Angela, there's a lot of talk and it's widely expected that the Israeli military
00:08 might decide on a ground offensive to send its soldiers in to Gaza.
00:14 This is going to be a very, very tough task and a complicated one at that.
00:18 Yeah. And the Israelis usually, when there is some sort of exchange
00:24 between Gaza and Israeli soldiers, avoid going into Gaza.
00:28 They did in 2014, but it was quite a limited operation.
00:32 The reality is, is that Gaza is an extremely densely populated strip,
00:38 25 miles long or so, 2.5 and more million people living in that small space.
00:43 And so the risk of hitting civilians is high.
00:47 And another enormous consideration now for the Israelis as well
00:52 is their hostages, their 100 or so hostages.
00:55 Hamas has said we will kill them one by one if strikes continue.
01:00 So that puts them in a real difficulty.
01:03 That said, it is felt that the only way to halt Hamas once and for all
01:08 is to send in ground troops.
01:09 And so it's widely expected that they will.
01:11 It will be street by street fighting gun battles and taking over blocks
01:17 building before they go in.
01:19 The Israelis, with their airstrikes, are trying to hit.
01:22 They say they're hitting terrorist command centers.
01:25 They say they're hitting terrorist weapons depots.
01:28 They will be trying to get as much infrastructure out of the way
01:31 before they go in as soldiers.
01:33 300,000 reservists have been called up for this operation.
01:39 Then the big question, and one of the reasons why Israel has avoided this
01:43 until now, is what happens then if they disable Hamas's
01:49 security apparatus and its governing system?
01:53 What might emerge in its place?
01:55 And Israel is very, very reluctant to reoccupy the Gaza Strip.
02:01 It ended in failure.
02:02 They pulled out in 2005, concluding that it was extremely costly
02:06 and quite unworkable.
02:07 And so they don't have a great appetite for reoccupying the Gaza Strip.
02:12 It has not been under Israeli occupation since 2005.
02:16 We're not really clear what the end game is here
02:19 from the Israeli point of view.
02:21 But the number one priority for many is the hostages.
02:24 Now, you mentioned the more than two million Palestinians
02:27 living in that small space.
02:29 It was already a difficult humanitarian situation
02:32 before this fighting broke out.
02:35 What can you tell us about the situation now on the ground
02:37 and what we can expect?
02:39 Well, we know that supplies of food, water, gas, electricity
02:43 have been shut off.
02:45 So it's very difficult to see what their plight must be.
02:49 It must be extremely difficult.
02:51 Humanitarian agencies are very, very worried.
02:54 The Gaza Strip, of course, is bordered by Israel on all sides,
02:57 except in the south, where it's bordered by Egypt,
03:00 which frequently closes off its border,
03:04 meaning that the enclave is pretty much shut off from the world.
03:06 We have heard very little from Egypt, whether they intend to open
03:10 that border and allow in Palestinian refugees.
03:13 It should be said that the Egyptian government is not a fan
03:17 of Palestinian militants and will also be worried
03:21 that militants might come into Egypt along with ordinary Palestinians.
03:26 They are reluctant to get tangled up in this,
03:30 but nevertheless, they are on that border.
03:32 We will wait to see whether they say refugees can come into Egypt.
03:36 The other consideration, as casualties pile up,
03:40 pile up as this goes on, Israel is a democracy,
03:44 unlike many of its neighbours.
03:47 And it's possible that ordinary Israelis, after a while,
03:51 will balk at the massive casualties on both sides and make their voices heard.
03:56 But I think for the moment, the outrage and the sorrow is so great.
04:01 We're hearing from Eris Mechler in Jerusalem that their priority
04:04 at the moment is getting their hostages and dealing with Hamas.
04:08 Angela Dufli, thank you very much for your analysis.