Colonel Richard Kemp commanded the British troops in Afghanistan. Before that, he saw service in the conflict in Northern Ireland, the Bosnian War, the Gulf War, and the Iraq War. Kemp was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), Military Division, in 1994. He was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery for service as a commander in the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia in 1994. He was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Military Division, in the New Year’s Honours List in 2006.
Kemp has written extensively about the IDF, its achievements in war and the ethos of its soldiers. He has been living in Israel for the last three months, observing the IDF operations in Gaza. His latest report on how the IDF is conducting the war, while minimizing harm as much as possible to civilians, can be found here.
Other than hardened anti-Israel zealots and supporters of Hamas, few have questioned the need for Israel to take military action to defend its citizens after the depredations of Oct. 7. But the Israel Defense Forces have come under intense criticism about the way it is conducting the war in the Gaza Strip, with allegations of excessive force and even indiscriminate attacks. Some former Western military officers have joined the chorus of condemnation, suggesting the IDF should adopt the tactics of coalition forces in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. Given the outcomes of both campaigns, perhaps neither provides the ideal template for how jihadists can be defeated.
Amid this growing reproof from afar, I have not yet heard one single realistic proposal for an alternative way of operating that would reduce civilian harm while still achieving the necessary objectives. That tells me that the IDF has no choice but to prosecute this conflict along current lines, despite the terrible loss of civilian life. But given the ill-informed accusations and wide-ranging misunderstanding of how the IDF is actually operating in Gaza, it is worth a closer look at what the IDF has been doing to mitigate harm to civilians.
I have been in Israel since the start of this war in the immediate aftermath of the slaughter, rape, torture and kidnapping spree three months ago. During that time, I have been extensively briefed on the conduct of operations by IDF commanders and staff and visited a wide range of IDF air and ground combat units, including inside the Gaza Strip, on a number of occasions, when I have been able to observe military operations firsthand.
During “Operation Swords of Iron,” the IDF has faced and continues to face one of the most difficult and complex combat environments any armed forces have ever had to deal with. Hamas and its fellow Gaza terrorists has, over several years, been preparing the territory with weapons and ammo caches, booby traps, mines, kill zones, and ambush and sniper positions.
They have an armory that includes sophisticated ground combat systems including thermobaric anti-armor missiles, explosively formed penetrator IEDs, long-range sniper rifles, explosive suicide vests, remote detonation equipment, attack drones, surveillance drones and ground-mounted surveillance cameras. In addition, they have positioned a vast array of mobile rocket launchers that continue to attack Israel’s civilian population, with missile barrages ongoing since the start of the war.
Hamas fighters and their infrastructure are comprehensively embedded in all populated areas of the Gaza Strip, and frequently relocate both above and below ground according to the movements of the IDF and the civilian population. The terrorists have utilized the predominantly urban areas to afford maximum cover and facilitate concealed approach and escape routes.
Hamas has constructed an extensive network of underground tunnels to gain protection for terrorists, to move fighters and equipment, to store weapons, to house command and control facilities, as well as to launch attacks and carry out ambushes. Some of these tunnels have been fitted with heavy blast doors to afford greater protection and frustrate assaulting troops. They are booby-trapped and rigged with explosives, early-warning devices and surveillance cameras. I have been into the tunnels during this conflict and can confirm that this network adds exponentially to the already immense challenges of fighting in urban areas, recognized by military professionals as perhaps the most demanding of all battle environments. Indeed, I am not aware of any comparable purposely built underground complex that any armed forces have had to tackle in any other conflict.
Hamas’s tactics are based on the exploitation of the civilian population of Gaza. Their above-ground infrastructure utilizes protected locations, including a large number of schools, hospitals and mosques for weapons storage, fighting positions, and tunnel access and egress. They have similarly used office and commercial facilities, shops and residential buildings. I have been briefed by combat troops on the ground that in some areas as much as every house and in other areas every other house contains elements of terrorist infrastructure; and I have been shown, for example, children’s bedrooms used to store grenades, anti-tank missiles and other munitions.
It is a standard Hamas tactic for terrorists to move unarmed, in civilian clothing, among the civilian population, collecting weapons stashed in civilian buildings and then carry out attacks against IDF troops. Hamas often compels civilians to remain in positions that the IDF is likely to attack, seeking to either deter an assault or exploit civilian deaths for international propaganda purposes if an attack is carried out. There are examples of Hamas killing civilians who fail to obey.
In addition to all this, Hamas is holding a large number of hostages in the Gaza Strip, which adds significant complications as the IDF seeks to find and rescue them and to avoid inadvertently killing them. Hamas has used the presence of their captives, including simulated and recorded hostage voices and related markings, to lure IDF soldiers into ambushes. Along with the tunnels, this adds yet another unique dimension to this conflict.
This daunting combination of concurrent and conflicting challenges, coupled with the fact that Hamas systematically uses Gazans as human shields, and operates within and beneath civilian infrastructure, means that it is literally not possible to achieve the objectives of defeating Hamas and rescuing the hostages without the tragic consequence of civilian casualties and the regrettable destruction of civilian property from both ground and air. No army in the world would be able to do so, no matter what tactics they employed, and indeed no other army has ever done so in any comparable conflict….
There is more here.
Rick Olsha says
Dick Kemp, great supporter of Israel and a hero.
AM ISRAEL CHAI !!!!!
Rufolino says
Three cheers for Colonel Kemp !
Robert Twic says
YESSSSS !
tgusa says
Does Colonel Kemp have any thoughts on hamas mitigation of civilian casualties? Inquiring minds would like to know.
dumbledoresarmy says
This is an excellent article. I followed the link and read it all. Share it around, as widely as possible, amongst any and all of your friends, family and colleagues.
this guy is a military man and a decent person and he describes with great clarity the **fiendishly difficult** conditions under which the IDF is having to fight in Gaza, given that they are attempting to dislodge jihadis from an immense and hardened network of underground fortifications that are ‘masked’ / shielded by a civilian overlay.
Would Australia’s ABC, for example, have the decency and the wit to invite Col. Richard Kemp onto prime-time TV to explain this to their viewers? to give us all a ‘background briefing’, from the point of view of a professional military man who has been in there ‘on the ground’?
And give him adequate time and space to do so, without attempting to derail him by nonsensical questions from hostile interviewers with zero comprehension of 1/ jihad and 2/ any and all matters military?
Would any other of our flagship western-country official media organisations have the guts to let Col. Kemp present a background briefing to their viewers or listeners?
I suggest we ask them.
Brian Bridgman says
Every time I have heard Colonel Kemp comment on the Quality, weapons and ability of the Russian forces.
It is patentley clear that the man does not know what he is talking about.
As for the Israely army they are doing what the need to do, and I hope that they suceed.
As Colonel Kemp implies they have no other chioce.
David Cooper says
Col Kemps blog gives us great insight of the real picture of this conflict.Having vied another,Col Douglas Macgregors heavily anti IDF video, I know who I prefer to believe.
bill says
Hamas has fired 1000 rockets into Israel just since 7/10, Thousands more have been fired over the last few years since Israel built the wall and stoppd the many suicide jihadis from slipping into Israel. I would like to know why the Hamas leaders have not been brought before the ICC for all those war crimes?