5:59 v originále: The Worst Is Yet to Come. US Expert on Israel and Hamas

Days after Hamas launched its attack on Israel, the scale of atrocities becomes clear. Israeli army has intensified its bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip and is expected to launch a ground offensive soon. How great is the risk that the war between Israel and Hamas could escalate into a regional conflict? A conversation with William Wechsler, senior director of Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council.

You can listen to a special episode of the podcast 5:59 in the audio player:

Days after Hamas launched its attack on Israel further details are coming to light. The attackers killed more than 1200 people in assaults on more than 20 towns and settlements in southern Israel, including women and children. Up to 150 others, Israeli authorities estimate, have been abducted.

In the Israeli village of Kfar Aza, Israeli authorities have uncovered traces of a massacre in which entire families with young children were brutally murdered.

„It will take a long time for Israel to recover psychologically from what just happened,“ William Wechsler, a leading US expert on the Middle East, told 5:59 podcast.

„The result of this won't be the typical exchanges of military barrages that we've seen every few years between Israel and Hamas but will be a full on war that will include a significant ground component. So the worst is yet to come.“

Israel has cut off supplies of electricity, fuel, and water to the Gaza Strip earlier this week and it has intensified its bombing campaign of the Palestinian enclave. It is expected that the ground offensive might start soon, with the Israeli military saying that hundreds of thousands of reservists are joining their units, „ready to execute the mission we have been given.“

„From a military perspective, Hamas lost the war the moment it decided to start it. Israel has vastly superior capabilities,“ says Wechsler, pointing out that Israel will no longer be constrained to doing strikes from the air.

„Going in on the ground is much more likely to have civilian casualties. But that's what's required now, because there is a near unanimity in Israel after what just happened that a war must be conducted to eliminate as much as possible Hamas's ability to ever do what it just did. And that means going after their infrastructure; it means going after their leadership.“

More than 900 people have so far been killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza. Observers point out that Israeli ground offensive could have tragic consequences for the civilian population in what is one of the world's most densely populated area.

According to William Wechsler, the „entity that is going to be caught in the crossfire, are the people in Gaza, many of whom don't support Hamas and what Hamas has done. And that's really a depressing reality,“ says the director of Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council.

What is next both for Israel and Palestinians? How significant is a danger that the conflict could expand to a full-fledged regional war? Is there a consensus on what the outcome of the Israeli campaign against Hamas should be? Is there a realistic vision for peace between Israel and Palestine?

Listen to the whole interview via the audio player at the top of the article.