There are still Hamas terror cells roaming the Negev region and waiting to come out of their hiding spots and attack civilians, according to an assessment made by the IDF on Wednesday morning.
There is also fear of attacks on the Egyptian border, according to the same report.
The Israeli military is getting ready for the next phase of its campaign against the Gaza Strip but plans may not conform to widespread expectations of an imminent ground offensive, the IDF's International spokesperson said on Tuesday.
"We are preparing for the next stages of war. We haven't said what they will be. Everybody's talking about the ground offensive. It might be something different," Lt.-Col. Richard Hecht told a regular briefing with reporters.
Hecht's comments came as Israeli forces continued to prepare to expand the offensive against Hamas after its deadly assault on southern Israel last week.
As the region and the world continue waiting to see how the IDF will move forward, analysts and leaders have noted a series of challenges a ground offensive would face and have warned that Israel must think of what to do after 'defanging' Hamas.
Former CIA director urges Israel to consider 'day after'
Former CIA director and retired US Army Gen. David Petraeus noted in an interview with CBS News on Monday that Gaza City is similar in size to Mosul, Iraq, which was an ISIS stronghold, and that Israel could face similar challenges if it enters Gaza.
“Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu would be well-advised to not only say what they are going to try to do to Hamas,” former Army General David Petraeus says, but also lay out a plan for the future of Gaza, ahead of an expected Israeli ground invasion of the territory. pic.twitter.com/67dWKyZpGH
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) October 16, 2023
Petraeus added that Hamas will have booby-trapped much of Gaza in anticipation of a ground offensive. "If the mission is to destroy Hamas, which is what we've heard, that's a military term, it means doctrinally that you have to render the enemy incapable of accomplishing his mission without reconstitution."
"If you go in, at some point in time, if you're going to destroy every one of these headquarters, bases, facilities, capture or kill the senior leaders and do the same with the rank and file, true extremists, think about what that requires," he said.
"A similar sized population, Mosul, when the Islamic State occupied it in northern Iraq, and ISIS is a good analogy here for what Hamas has done; it took nine months to clear that - Israel doesn't have nine months obviously."
The former CIA director stressed to CBS News that Israel needs to think of the post-conflict goals as well. "The military is probably also saying 'and then what? How did that work out in Iraq?'"
"I was a two-star (general officer), I remember asking before we went to Baghdad 'excuse me, could we have a little more detail on what happens after we get to Baghdad and topple the regime,' and they said 'you just get us to Baghdad, they will take it from there,' Petraeus said.
"We obviously had done inadequate post-conflict. There needs to be a vision for that. I think that Prime Minister Netanyahu would be well advised to not only say what they're going to try to do to Hamas, but also to talk about the future of Gaza and the future of the Palestinian people," he said.
"They don't want to reoccupy, but if you don't reoccupy, Hamas will reconstitute. So you're going to go through an enormous loss, casualties, and then you're just going to leave? I'm sure they're searching for that answer."