The guns had to fall silent on Sunday January 19, thanks to a fragile ceasefire with Israel, for Hamas fighters to reappear in broad daylight. After 15 months of war, here they are proudly strolling through the destroyed streets of Gaza. “They suffered the most violent bombardment that an organization like this could ever undergo, but they are still there and continue to recruit,” notes Yossi Mekelberg, Middle East expert at the think tank, to AFP. -British tank Chatham House. Even the English daily Times of Israel must admit that the “terrorist group is in control” and that it has also begun to “curb the looting and restore basic services”.
Wearing their emblematic green headbands, the hooded fighters of the Palestinian Islamist movement accompanied the release of the three Israeli hostages last weekend, in the middle of a compact and disorderly crowd. The next day, it was the Deputy Minister of the Interior in the Hamas government, Mahmoud Abou Watfa, who traveled through Gaza City, welcoming “a moment of victory for life and humanity” and paying tribute to ” those who sacrificed themselves and supported the resistance” against Israel. Simultaneously, under the first phase of the truce agreement, Israeli forces withdrew from the most densely populated areas of Palestinian territory where Hamas took power in 2007.
While Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, pledged to “destroy” the Palestinian group following its attack on October 7, 2023 against Israel, his target is still moving. “When we set the objective of the complete elimination (of an organization), if only one man remains standing, it can be considered a failure,” says Yossi Mekelberg. Especially since the organization founded in 1987 now wants to make it known that it reigns supreme in Gaza, displaying its new ambitions. “We are working according to an emergency plan,” assured Ismail al-Thawabta, spokesperson for the Hamas-controlled government in Gaza, whose comments are repeated in the Financial Times. The organization added that meetings were planned to restore education, reopen mosques for prayers and improve health services in hospitals that have been repeatedly bombed.
“A slap in the face for the Israeli government and army”
Although we guess a communications company, “the armed presence of Hamas on the ground is a slap in the face for the Israeli government and army”, reacted in the columns of Wall Street Journal Gershon Baskin, former Israeli hostage negotiator and now director for the Middle East of the diplomatic defense group of the Organization of International Communities. For his part, Muhammad Shehada, of the European Council on International Relations (ECFR), notes that Israel has clearly targeted civil servants, police officers and ministers since October 2023, hoping to also dismantle the political potential of Hamas. The presence of its fighters in the streets “constitutes a symbol of distrust, testifying that they remain operational”, analyzes this Palestinian expert to AFP.
But if Hamas members are resisting, it is because they are also filling an abysmal governance void, since no one has sought to replace them as the governing entity in the Gaza Strip. Indeed, Benjamin Netanyahu has continued to insist that the Palestinian Authority, based in Ramallah, would have no role, discrediting the institution of Mahmoud Abbas. “Israel was not capable of destroying the group nor of giving power to an alternative,” criticizes the Wall Street Journal. And what do Gazans think about it? While some believe Hamas has provided Israel with a pretext to destroy Gaza, they also “feel a sense of pride” that the group’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, “defied Israel’s might.” argues Muhammad Shehada.
Especially since the ferocity of the Israeli offensive and the destruction of Gaza should attract new members to the group. Outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced last week that America believed Hamas had recruited about as many militants as it had lost (about 17,000). But these newcomers have not been trained and are not yet familiar with military drill. Enough to suggest that Hamas has still lost its striking power. In total, the Hamas Ministry of Health estimates the death toll from the conflict at least 47,100, mostly civilians, figures considered reliable by the UN. And no one yet knows the contours of the post-war period in Gaza.