For Hamas, an Islamist militant group founded to destroy the Jewish state, victory now has largely narrowed to one thing: survival.
Already a subscriber?On the 14th floor of Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv, high up in the defence minister’s office, a large pyramid adorns the wall made up of images of Hamas’ top ranks. The title: “Status of leadership assassinations”.in Gaza, those still alive greatly outnumber the mostly mid-ranking commanders whose fate is illustrated by a giant red X across their faces.
“Let’s assume that all of Gaza lies in ruins, and someone will stand there left from Hamas, a wounded soldier, and will raise a Hamas flag – they’ve won the war,” said Micha Kobi, a retired former senior official in Israel’s Shin Bet security agency. “That’s what they believe.”, who has repeatedly vowed to “eliminate” Hamas.
From its humble roots in the slums and mosques of Gaza in the 1980s, Hamas underwent a steady rise in power and prominence – in the 1990s as a militant group violently opposed to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, then more recently as the undisputed ruler of the coastal enclave. “Does Hamas still exist militarily? Yes,” said one senior Israeli military official. “Is it organised? No. The path to completely dismantling them goes on.”The group’s civil control over northern Gaza and large parts of the south has certainly been eroded. Armed gangs are growing in number, while law and order has broken down across the devastated enclave, where more than 31,000 have been killed and 80 per cent of Gaza’s 2.
Even so, with “their families and friends suffering”, he said there was no doubt pressure was growing to reach a ceasefire and alleviate the dire conditions for civilians.
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