Israel's campaign into heavily urbanized Gaza reflects my concerns over fighting in cities.
Note in the map that so far the Israelis are not holding very much dense urban terrain. In the north the Israelis isolated Gaza City rather than plow through it. And in operations in the south, you see a similar pattern unfolding with the Israeli advances.
Most operations in the urban areas are operations that don't stand and hold the ground.
This reflects my concerns that I addressed in Army magazine about operating in far larger megacities:
The dangers and costs do not mean the Army should refuse to fight in megacities. The drawbacks mean Army operations only include missions into cities that advance the objective of the campaign. The Army must understand the complex physical and human terrain to identify the territory within and around megacities that should be secured without being drawn into a needlessly expansive and expensive megacity campaign.
And my concern extends to smaller but still huge cities, of course. But size matters.
While avoiding a march through Gaza's urban areas has no doubt reduced both Israeli and civilian casualties, the basic truth of urban warfare that I warned about (and I did not coin that) remains true: "Fighting for a city is a decision to destroy it[.]" That decision was made both by Hamas and Israel.
And while the Russians seems to have learned a lesson after the long, bloody battle for Bahkmut by avoiding a frontal assault through Avdiivka--instead seemingly battling to encircle the city--we shall see if Putin remains committed to that apparent change in strategy as his election coronation gets closer.
UPDATE: I've read some comparisons to the American-supported campaign to take Mosul during Iraq War 2.0. But that campaign was a situation where Iraq had to attack through all of the city. Liberating your own city is one of those situations where ultimately all parts of the city have to be taken.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War in this post.
