PNN – The American newspaper New York Times explained in a detailed analysis about the capabilities of Hamas and described Israel’s goal to destroy this group by Israel as “fantasy”.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, the New York Times wrote in an analysis written by one of the newspaper’s senior analysts on West Asian issues that doubts about Israel’s ability to destroy Hamas have intensified.
“Neil McFargohar”, who is introduced by the New York Times as one of the veteran analysts and writers of this newspaper and other American media in the field of West Asian issues, at the beginning of this analysis, refers to the assurance of Osama Hamdan, the representative of Hamas in Lebanon, about the inability of this group to be eliminated.
According to the report, Hamdan said at a recent press conference in his office in southern Lebanon while standing in front of a gray podium decorated with Hamas insignia and a symbol of a gunman celebrating the October 7 attack: “We are not worried about the future of the Gaza Strip. Only the Palestinian people will decide.”
According to the New York Times analyst, Osama Hamdan was actually questioning one of Israel’s main goals in attacking Gaza, which is to dismantle the political and military capabilities of Hamas. According to Israeli officials, the attack by Hamas on October 7 killed about 1,200 people, and more than 100 people are still being held hostage by this group.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, has repeatedly emphasized that this war will not end unless this goal is achieved, despite the growing international criticism of the Israeli army’s operation in Gaza. Meanwhile, the US President Joe Biden’s administration has sent several representatives to Israel, calling for Israel to move with a milder and more targeted phase in this war.
McFargohar writes: “Critics both inside and outside of Israel have questioned whether the determination to destroy an organization with such deep roots seems realistic at all.” In an interview with the New York Times, a former Israeli domestic security adviser described Israel’s goal as “vague.”
The author has further reminded the statements of Emmanuel Macron, the president of France. Macron said this month: “I think we have reached a point where the Israeli authorities should be more specific about their ultimate goal. The complete destruction of Hamas? Does anyone think this is possible? “If this is going to happen, this war will last 10 years.”
According to this report, since its inception in 1987, Hamas has survived repeated attempts to remove its leaders. Experts in military and political issues say that the structure of this organization is designed in such a way that it can digest such developments. In addition, Israel’s destructive tactics in the Gaza war may turn wider segments of the Gazan population toward anti-Israeli views and aid Hamas’s recruitment efforts.
The New York Times analyst writes: “Analysts believe that the most optimal outcome for Israel is to weaken the military capabilities of Hamas so that this group will no longer be able to repeat the deadly attacks of October 7.” But even this limited goal is a difficult and exhausting task.
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According to this analysis, Hamas is rooted in the ideology that opposition to Israel’s control over Palestinian lands must be accompanied by the use of force, and this is the principle that according to experts will remain.
Tahani Mustafa, senior analyst of Palestinian issues at the think tank “International Crisis Group” says: “As long as this background remains, you will face groups similar to Hamas. To assume that you can root out such an organization is wishful thinking.”
The Israeli army announced this week that it had killed 8,000 Hamas fighters, estimated to number between 25,000 and 40,000. But it is not yet clear how these statistics are collected.
According to the New York Times, the Israeli army has sometimes presented positive prospects of progress in achieving military goals and claimed that it will soon be able to take full control of the northern areas of Gaza.
Nevertheless, Benjamin Netanyahu admitted on Sunday that “the war has cost us very heavily.” On the same day, the Israeli army announced that 15 soldiers had been killed in the last 48 hours alone. Rockets are still fired from southern Gaza into Israel on a daily basis, although the number has decreased compared to the past.
Michel Milstein, one of the former intelligence officers of Israel, criticized the statements of some officials of the Israeli war cabinet that Hamas is on the verge of collapse and said that such statements may lead to the formation of wrong expectations about the duration of the war.
Milstein said: “They have been making such statements for some time that Hamas is declining. This is not true at all. We are facing difficult conflicts every day.”
The Israeli military recently distributed leaflets in Gaza promising cash rewards to those who identified Hamas leaders. In this announcement, he wrote: “Hamas has lost its power.” They cannot hatch eggs. The end of Hamas is near.
The Israeli army had promised a reward of 400,000 dollars for information about Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, and 100,000 dollars for Mohammed al-Daif. McFargohar writing these promises shows the hardships faced by the Israeli army to remove the leaders of Hamas.
According to this analyst, it is believed that senior leaders of Hamas, along with most of its fighters, have taken refuge in deep tunnels in Gaza. Although the Israeli army claimed to have destroyed 1,500 tunnels, experts believe that the Hamas tunnel network has remained intact to a large extent.
These tunnels, built over the past 15 years, are so vast that they are hundreds of miles long, and the Israelis call them the “Gaza Metro.”
Tariq Bikani, an author who has written a book about Hamas, said: “Hamas is actually rejecting these attacks very well. Hamas is showing that it still has a lot of capability for military aggression.”
Giora Eiland, a former Israeli officer who previously headed Israel’s Internal Security Council, also told the New York Times that Hamas has shown the ability to immediately replace its commanders who are killed with others who are equally capable.
Eiland said: “From a professional point of view, I have to acknowledge their resilience. I don’t see any signs of a collapse in Hamas’ military capabilities or in their military power to continue ruling Gaza.”
One of Israel’s first attempts to destroy Hamas dates back to 1992. At that time, Hamas sent 415 of its allies to other places and settled them in a safe area near the border of Lebanon and Israel. During the few months they were there, these people established close and powerful relations with the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
According to the New York Times, a series of assassinations of political, military and religious leaders of Hamas has not been able to weaken this group.