After the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week, some political leaders hoped that the treaty was now in place to seriously consider ending the war in Gaza. However, on the contrary, peace talks are nowhere in sight and violence continues to increase as Israel strikes these days in northern Gaza.
But while Hamas’s military wing has been decimated, much of the population of the Gaza Strip has been nearly leveled, and while many of its hideouts and stockpiles have been destroyed, Hamas continues to inflict blows on the remaining Israeli troops. in the pouch.
The dynamics of guerrilla warfare
Initially, according to Israeli and Palestinian analysts, Sinwar’s death is unlikely to affect the ability of Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip. The killing of an Israeli colonel in northern Gaza by Hamas last Sunday demonstrated in the most obvious way that the organization’s military wing, while no longer able to function as a conventional army, is still a strong guerrilla force with several more fighters but also ammunition so as to “trap” the Israeli army in a slow war which it has not yet shown it can win.
The tunnel system in Gaza continues
The remaining Hamas fighters are hiding in ruined buildings, debris and the vast underground network of tunnels under Gaza, much of which remains intact despite Israel’s massive efforts to destroy it, military analysts and Israeli soldiers say. The New York Times describe that hostilities today have taken the form of guerrilla warfare: Hamas fighters briefly emerge from their hiding places in small units to ambush buildings, plant roadside bombs, mine Israeli armored vehicles, or fire rockets at Israeli forces, but quickly returning to their bases. In this, it works in their favor that they know the pocket and its peculiarities better.
Hamas’ “hit and run” deals blows in Israel
So while Hamas is demonstrably unable to defeat Israel in a head-on, open battle, its small-scale hit-and-run approach has allowed it to, and continues to, inflict blows on Israel. and avoid a total military defeat, even if, according to Israeli figures, the group has lost more than 17,000 fighters since the war began a year ago.
“The rebel forces are working well and will be very difficult to subdue — not only in the short term, but also in the long term,” writes the NYT.
“Recycling” of Israeli ammunition
Although Israel has destroyed Hamas’ long-range rocket caches, analysts estimate that endless explosive devices and light weapons still exist. Some of these explosives are said to have been in stockpiles before the start of the war. But others are redesigned Israeli munitions that failed to detonate on impact, according to Hamas and the Israeli military.
In fact, this week Hamas released a video in which it appeared to show its fighters how to turn an unexploded Israeli rocket into an improvised bomb.
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