How the IDF avoided heavy casualties

Israel National News:

Use of aerial and naval attacks and moving foot soldiers into Gaza off main roads and on a moonless night were factors that helped keep IDF casualties to near zero in Operation Cast Lead against terrorists on Gaza. Robots also may have been used to foil Hamas and allied gunmen.

The campaign began three weeks ago Saturday night, on the eve of the new moon of the Hebrew month of Tevet. The nighttime march, without any light from the moon, lessened the chances that Hamas could use its anti-tank missiles against combat units, as Hizbullah succeeded in doing in the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

However, the use of aerial and naval forces was Israel's main advantage. They attacked most of the terrorist targets and provided cover for ground forces, who lost five comrades to enemy fire, while five others died from friendly fire.

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"Reports of heavy fighting in heavily populated areas were mainly the fruit of media imagination," he said. "One of the reasons that there were few casualties was the tactic of keeping the ground soldier from penetrating deep into Gaza. The media reports were exaggerated."

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The fact that they were able to use standoff weapons for most of the damage suggest that had good intelligence on targets. Most of the criticism of target selection was the result of returning fire on Hamas targets near civilian areas.

Where the Israelis did have to get up close they continued their tactic of breaking through a wall rather than entering through a door. Most of the time the enemy had already fled. In fact Hamas was mostly trying to avoid contact and had its forces switch into civilian clothes to avoid detection.