Israel in the Gaza War has had a total number of air strikes that is 39% of the number of airstrikes that the US Air Force performed in the 1991 Gulf War.
The Israel Air Force has carried out strikes against more than 31,000 targets belonging to Hamas and other terror groups since the war began, mostly in Gaza (29,000 targets), but also in Lebanon and other fronts, racking up over 186,000 flight hours. Of the strikes, 26,000 were carried out by fighter jets, 3,800 with attack helicopters, and 3,800 with drones.
The 31000 strikes compares to 80,000 sorties performed by the US Air Force in the 1991 Gulf War. The US flew close to 80,000 sorties out of overall 116,000 sorties from the entire multi-national coalition. Israel’s war is not done yet. Israel does not have B-52 or B-1 bombers to the tonnage of bombs is far less.
The US F-16s flew nearly 13,500 sorties in the Gulf War. This was the highest for any system in the war. The F-111 flew over 4,000 sorties with a high mission capable rate.
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) flies the F-15, F-35, and F-16 fighter jets that have been launching airstrikes in the Gaza Strip since the October 7, 2023, terror attacks on Israel by Hamas militants. As of November 8, 2023, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) operates 50 F-15 A/B/C/D variants and 25 F-15 I aircraft. The IAF also has about 224 F-16 Sufa and Barak in operation.
Israel’s F-16 in this 2023-2024 war were probably used nearly twice as much as the US used F-16s in the Gulf War.
Israel has about fifty F-35s and will get another 25 delivered in 2024 to reach 75 F-35s.
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Iraq is equivalent in size to 2/3 of Texas while Gaza is equivalent in size to just the city of Austin. That makes for a big difference in density of bombs.
You need to have targets for precision bombs/rockets and Hamas is running out of them. Maybe Israel should hit Hamas where it hurts, in the goats.
Israel is much nicer than me, I would sealed tunnel entrances and pumped acetelyne and oxygen in to them.
Problem is, some of those tunnels may have hostages in them.
Perhaps just enough to put a few inches to a foot of water? Make using the tunnels difficult, but not enough water to drown a hostage.
Yes, but if it’s a tradeoff of immediately killing 10+ Hamas personnel for every 1 hostage lost, and if the means minimize danger to other innocents (which includes the IDF), it’s more-than worth it.
I’ve long told my family that, in the unlikely event I ever became a hostage, my firm wish is to have the location destroyed with an airstrike sufficient to ensure the deaths of all the perps. The alternative is to incentivize hostage-taking, and I would far rather not have the suffering of future innocents on my head, merely because my family asked some cop or soldier or politician to reward terrorism on my behalf, and the terrorists lived to kidnap another day.
Precise rocket attacks from
Land and sea forces also play a role in the Israeli attack. Precise rockets. Launched from the ground may be cheaper to launch from the ground than from the air And their role should be increased.