Israeli army ‘astonished’ by Hamas strength, says analyst

JERUSALEM

The Israeli army has realized that eliminating Hamas in the Gaza Strip will take months, Israeli military analyst Yoav Zitun stated in his article published on Sunday.

Although the Israeli army had hoped to overthrow Hamas, which had ruled the Gaza Strip since the summer of 2007, “on the ground, the army is amazed every day by how strong Hamas is. It is a real army (...) that was established 50 minutes from Tel Aviv over the past years,” Zitun wrote in the article published by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

And the movement's military capabilities confirm how it has been resisting Israel's occupation of Palestine for decades, he stated.

Zitun mentioned in his article that the US had sent Israel a deadline to end the war in Gaza "by the end of December or January," which Washington denied on Friday.

In shedding light on Hamas' capabilities in confronting the Israeli army, Zitun stated, "They have hundreds of thousands of weapons, including RPG shells of various types, which are considered their main weapon.

“They also have advanced rocket launchers, explosive drones, and attack drones that were produced as a copy of the Israeli army's Sky Rider drone, which fell in the Gaza Strip in the past decade."

According to Zitun, "Hamas fighters also have machine guns, Kalashnikov rifles, Dragunov sniper rifles, advanced communications devices, explosive devices of different standards and sizes (..) and countless amounts of weapons and military capabilities."

Regarding Israel's incursion into the northern Gaza Strip, Zitun stated, "The fierce battles in Beit Hanoun could indicate that clearing Gaza of the enemy will take many months." Even though Hanoun is not the strongest Hamas stronghold, the analyst believed.

On the Shujaiya neighborhood in Gaza City, Zitun quoted a senior officer in the elite Golani Brigade as saying, “Hamas has placed its strongest battalion there.”

“The militants in that neighborhood were born and raised there, they are linked to the place and will not flee,” the officer said.

“From a practical standpoint, we will need about six months to completely cleanse Shujaiya," he explained.

Israel resumed its military offensive on the Gaza Strip on Dec. 1 after the end of a week-long humanitarian pause with Hamas.

At least 17,700 Palestinians have been killed and more than 48,780 others injured in relentless air and ground attacks on the enclave since Oct. 7 following the cross-border attack by Hamas.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stood at 1,200, according to official figures.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi