Israel’s Army Radio reported on Monday that the reason for the delay of the ground incursion into Gaza is due to a US request to wait until it can send additional American army forces to the Middle East. The request is due to the fear that Iran and its proxies will increase their attacks against US forces and bases in the region amid the war between Israel and Gaza. Israel apparently agreed to the request. However, according to the report, Israeli officials clarified that there are additional reasons for the delay of the ground incursion, including exhausting the possibility of negotiations for the release of hostages held in the Strip. Of course, Israel also has a vested interest in the deployment of additional US forces to the region, especially in light of the possibility that the war could spread to additional fronts. A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday denied the existence of US pressure, stating: “There is no US pressure, only US support.” A CNN report on Sunday claimed that the US is pressuring Israel to delay the ground operation in order to allow time for negotiations to release additional hostages. Additionally, there are many reports in the Israeli media by former defense officials warning against a ground incursion into Gaza at all, pointing to the fact that Hamas has a vast array of subterranean tunnels [dubbed the “Gaza metro”] in the Strip, where hundreds of terrorists are hiding underground and can launch attacks on Israeli soldiers. Defense officials fear that a ground incursion can chas v’chalilah lead to an unbearably high death toll among IDF soldiers, with some even saying that Hamas purposely attacked Israel on October 7th in order to lure soldiers into entering the Gaza Strip, where they will be waiting with “surprises” for the troops. In fact, on Sunday evening, a 19-year-old IDF soldier, Cpl. Tamir Barak, H’yd, who was carrying out an operation near Kibbutz Kissufim, near the Gaza border, was killed, and three soldiers were injured when a terrorist came out of a tunnel and launched an anti-tank missile at them. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)