A fighter from Izz al-Din al-Qassam stands in front of a tunnel during an exhibition of weapons, missiles and heavy equipment for the military wing of Hamas in the Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip, during the commemoration of the 2014 war that lasted 51 days between Gaza and Israel.
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Israel is widely expected to launch a major ground offensive into Gaza in the coming days, seeking to “demolish” the Palestinian militant group Hamas after a coordinated attack on southern Israeli border towns that sent political shock waves across the region.
In response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks of Hamas, Israel has urged 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to evacuate south ahead of a large ground invasion. The United Nations has called the evacuation order “impossible” without “devastating humanitarian consequences.”
Ahead of such an attack, one military geography specialist outlined to CNBC how the physical features of the Gaza Strip could influence any fighting.
Francis Galgano, an associate professor at the Department of Geography and the Environment at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, described Gaza as an essentially flat, “heavily urbanized” and “heavily tunneled” coastal enclave, similar in size to the city of Philadelphia.
In his view, Israel’s impending ground incursion “is going to be a mess” but ultimately a battle that its forces should be able to get under control. He warned, however, that any kind of ground offensive from Israel’s military would be a highly dangerous “cat and mouse game” of urban warfare, one with a particularly unique subterranean element.
Israel warns 1.1M people in north of Gaza to relocate to the south.
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The Gaza Strip is a narrow portion of land sandwiched between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the most densely populated places in the world, with more than 2 million people living in conditions that human rights…
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