Hello and welcome to Battleground Gaza with me, Patrick Bishop and Roger Morehouse, who's standing in for Saul David, who even as we speak is paddling a canoe

through the wild and windy waters of the Scottish coast, doing that for charity. So good on you, Saul.

Well, in the last few days, we've seen the long-announced incursion by Israeli ground forces

into the northern part of the Gaza Strip, while at the same time the bombing campaign shows

no signs of letting up. All this, of course, in pursuit of the Israeli government's

declared intention to destroy Hamas as a military organization once and for all.

We'll be discussing their chances of achieving that aim, but we're also going to be looking at the Israeli military tradition, where it comes from historically, how history has shaped its methods and its ethos, and trying to see how that will affect events in Gaza, as they unfold in the days and very possibly weeks and months to come. But first, let's have a look at what's happening right now on the

ground. The Israelis took their time going in, didn't they, Patrick? The Hamas atrocities took place

back on 7th of October, and it's only now, three weeks later, that the actual ground assault

that is needed if the Israelis are going to achieve their objectives has finally kicked off.

That's right, Roger. Before I go any further, I better apologize to listeners for my voice.

I've just developed a terrible cold overnight, so I'm going to be spluttering and wheezing

apologies for that. Well, to get back to what's going on in Gaza on the ground, there are

huge human and political stakes at play here, I think hence the delay, Hamas is holding more than 200 hostages, and clearly they are massively at risk in all this. All along, there's been the possibility that Hamas will use their lives to win some sort of concessions. Historically, when this has happened before,

it's been the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails that they've been after.

But this is a new situation, and it may be that Hamas will use them as human shields

to protect their upper echelons if they are in danger of coming under direct attack. They've also, of course, got great value

as bargaining chips in political negotiations. At the moment, these may seem very far away,

a very distant prospect, but you never say never in the Middle East, and it's possible they

could be part of an eventual ceasefire agreement. Anyway, what's

happened so far is what you would expect from previous incursions, but on a very big scale. So

continuous airstrikes taking up what the IDF says is Hamas personnel and infrastructure, laying

...