Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine), 08.08.2024
The Zionist army claims that it is winning, and Hamas has only four battalions now. Like on all issues, the Zionists lie on this as well. The American news channel CNN published on Monday a lengthy investigation that reveals that almost half of the Hamas military battalions in northern and central Gaza have recovered their combat capabilities, and this despite ten months of war, according to analyses by the Critical Threats Project of the American Enterprise Research Institute. Institute for the Study of War and CNN.
According to the data, the battalions in the center of Gaza were the ones that were hit the least. According to Israeli military sources and the analysis, Israeli sources say they have not adequately “dealt” with these battalions because they are holding many Israeli hostages.
The war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing increasing international pressure to agree to a cease-fire and a deal to release hostages in Gaza, repeated his lies that Israeli forces are getting closer to their stated goal of eliminating Hamas and destroying its military capabilities. In his speech to a joint session of Congress on July 24, he said: “Victory is on the horizon,” but carefully analyzed of Hamas’s military activity since it led attacks against Israel on October 7, based on statements by the Zionist army and Hamas, photographs from the field, and interviews with experts and eyewitnesses, questioning his claims.
The Zionist army dealt a heavy blow to Hamas: senior Hamas officials were assassinated, and the ongoing attack turned what was once a small professional fighting force into a guerrilla army. The political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed last week in Tehran in an attack that Iran blamed on Israel. Israel did not claim responsibility but said a day later that Hamas’s top military commander, Muhammad Dief, was killed in an airstrike on July 13 in Gaza – a report Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied.
Still, the study covering Hamas activities until July shows that the organization seems to have effectively used dwindling resources on the ground. Several units have returned to activity in key areas cleared by the Israeli army after heavy fighting and intense bombing, according to the new analyses, retrieving the remains of their battalions in a desperate attempt to replenish their ranks. “The Israelis will say they’ve cleared a place, but they haven’t completely cleared these areas; they haven’t defeated these fighters at all,” said Brian Carter, director of the Middle East portfolio for the Critical Threats Project (CTP), who led the joint study with the Institute for the Study of War ( ISW) regarding the patterns of military activity of Hamas and Israel.
At least one Zionist source close to the army agrees with some of the investigation’s estimates. However, he claims that it will be much more difficult for the organization to replace commanders who have been killed. “The recruitment started three or four months ago, and they got a few thousand. I don’t know exactly how many,” said a retired senior Israeli officer. “Hamas’ biggest difficulty is not at the level of soldiers but at the level of commanders, some of whom are not easy to replace.”At least in a short time.”
Despite the damage to them, the Al-Qassam Brigades continue to draw the Israeli forces into repeated rounds of fighting. “It’s a game of whack-a-mole,” said Robert Pipe, a political science professor at the University of Chicago and author of four books on counterinsurgency warfare. “Israel tells the population to move to the center, to the south, and then a large number end up doing so. They keep moving these people, and guess who moves with the population? Almost all Hamas fighters.”
“Hamas, the people, the fighters, and the supporting leaders are deeply embedded within the population,” Pipe said. “They have built relationships with this population for decades.” The analysis of ISW and CTP suggests that restoration occurred in two distinct ways. Some units of the al-Qassam regiments regrouped, merging badly damaged cells to form battle-efficient battalions. Others regenerated, recruited new fighters, and made new weapons from the explosives left by the Zionist forces. With their camps largely destroyed, it is unlikely that the al-Qassam Brigades will put their new fighters through significant training. The original divisions were severely damaged, which forced Hamas to rely on guerrilla tactics, setting traps and conducting ambushes.”
Pipe also adds that “Israel is creating exactly the type of additional political anger, the additional grief, the additional emotion that will lead more people to become fighters. The actual strategic power of Hamas is increasing. The power of Hamas lies in its ability to mobilize.”
Down with the Zionist monster!
Victory for Hamas!
For Palestine, red and free from the river to the sea!