World Bulletin / News Desk

Nehemia Shtrasler, an Israeli writer and blogger, on Tuesday morning lamented Israel's pull-out from the Gaza Strip after a 72-hour ceasefire was agreed between Israel and Hamas.

Writing in the Israeli daily Haaretz, Shtrasler blasted the withdrawing Israeli Defence Force (IDF), accusing it of putting its 'brain in storage' or lending it to Hamas.

Comparing the IDF to 'King Kong,' Shtrasler explained the IDF's defeat in Gaza due to the army being 'too heavy, big or bloated' resulting in every move 'unintentionally' knocking down a house, bridge or UN school in Gaza.

'The IDF has the best plane, the most sophisticated tank and the most advanced electronics, but the Jewish mind has been put in storage, or even worse, this mind is now with Hamas,' Shtrasler said.

Shtrasler slammed Israel's war tactic of dropping 'one-ton bombs on buildings' while Hamas commanders survive in the tunnels 'without a scratch,' deeming the tactic to be ' loss in terms of morality and (Israel's) standing in the world.'

'It makes thousands of young Gazans whose parents, siblings and friends have been killed join the ranks of vengeance seekers,' he said.

Gaza offensive 'complicated', 'tough fight': Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday described the latest Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip as a "tough fight" and that there were no guarantees all tunnels had been destroyed.

"It was a complicated operation in the middle of tough fight," Netanyahu said in a statement a few hours after the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Palestinian coastal enclave.

He thanked the Israeli army for "neutralizing the Gaza attack tunnels," saying Israel destroyed 32 tunnels which Hamas had "spent years digging."

"We have no 100 percent guarantee that all tunnels were destroyed," Netanyahu said. "But we did everything to complete the task."

He said Hamas had dug out the tunnels with the aim of kidnapping and killing Israeli troops and civilians.

Israel had been pounding the blockaded Gaza Strip – home to 1.8 million people – since July 7.

At least 1867 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed and 9450 wounded in unrelenting Israeli attacks since then.

The Israeli army has confirmed that 64 troops had been killed and 400 others injured in the ongoing Gaza military operation.

Gaza-based resistance factions, meanwhile, had continued to fire rockets at Israeli cities, killing three civilians.

The offensive – codenamed "Operation Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populate Gaza Strip within the last six years.