TEHRAN- "Collateral damage" is a shameful term used by Israel to describe the killing of innocent Palestinians. They kill Palestinian women and children and justify this crime as self-defense. In the face of these crimes, the silence of international organizations is a constant. Organizations that are concerned about everything - from the melting of Arctic ice to the extinction of cats and even insects - but seem to consider the killing of Palestinians as normal.

Yes! Unfortunately, the world is like a jungle and one must be strong to survive against the beasts. During the first intifada, Palestinians only had stones to defend themselves, but today their missile range has reached Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. In Israel's recent invasion of Gaza and the reciprocal response of Islamic Jihad fighters, the Israeli army was forced to use the "David's Sling" system for the first time to counter the missiles fired from Gaza.

Israel has carried out 15 military operations against Gaza from 2005 until now. That means almost one operation per year, and each time they claim that these attacks have been successful and achieved their desired results. A Zionist analyst has raised a good question: if these operations are successful, then why do they need to be repeated every year?!

The recent Israeli attack on Islamic Jihad commanders and positions in Gaza is more related to the West Bank than to Tel Aviv's concerns about Gaza. Islamic Jihad is expanding its resistance infrastructure towards the West Bank, and the Israelis' fear of this is understandable. The arming of the West Bank with missile infrastructure is a real game-changer. Unlike Gaza, the surroundings of the West Bank are full of Zionist population centers.
 
Although during this current war, Islamic Jihad missiles also reached Jerusalem and Tel Aviv from Gaza, shooting them from the West Bank is a different story.

The Israeli regime is pursuing two main objectives in the recent war. One is to eliminate the field command of Islamic Jihad, and the other is to create discord among resistance groups. Firing about 900 missiles into occupied territories showed that they have failed in their first goal.

So far, Islamic Jihad has not accepted Israel's conditions for a ceasefire and has stated that it will only stop firing missiles if its own conditions are met. As for the second objective, Israel is mistaken. Gaza's response to Israeli attacks is calculated and unified, executed by a single command that can increase the intensity of the response and even shock Israel when necessary.

Another important point not to be forgotten in this context is Netanyahu's difficult situation within Israel. Facing the most severe domestic protests, Netanyahu hopes that by attacking Gaza, he can divert public opinion from internal issues and restore unity to the divided Israeli society. In the short term, this may seem like a successful policy, but this wound cannot be healed with the blood of Palestinians. Of course, Netanyahu has shown that he does not hesitate to sacrifice Israelis to achieve his goals.

Finally, the army that once defeated several Arab countries together is now unable to defeat one of the resistance groups in the Gaza Strip, which is completely besieged. The myth of the invincibility of the Israeli army has come to an end, and this achievement is the result of the sacrifices made by the holy blood spilled in the path of resistance.

Mohammad Sarfi is Editor-in-Chief Tehran Times