Israel has to punch into the dense Gaza strip with tanks and troops, and conduct searches, he said.
The rescue effort would be a "bloody mess" and "catastrophic" to Palestinian civilians, he warned.
Israeli forces would have to seize control of the ground level in Gaza and conduct house-to-house searches, he said.
AdvertisementAdvertisementA mass rescue effort would see Israeli forces punching into a 140-square-mile region filled with 2 million people, while meticulously searching house, basements, and cellars, McCaffrey said.
"I don't know how they're going to solve this without massive casualties in their own forces, never mind catastrophic damage in the Gaza strip," McCaffrey added.
Persons:
Barry McCaffrey, Israel, —, McCaffrey, Alicia Menendez, haven't, Alex Witt, Tweeting
Organizations:
Service, Hamas, US Army, US Southern Command, Reuters, Palestinian Health Ministry, Palestinian, IDF, Israel's Defense Ministry
Locations:
Gaza, Israel