The American newspaper The Washington Post said that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) still maintains its strength despite the passage of 60 days since the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.
The newspaper explained, in a report, that the military operations in the northern Gaza Strip are far from complete, even though Gaza has been razed to the ground, and that the ground occupation forces have not yet entered some of the main Hamas strongholds in northern Gaza.
She pointed out that during the recent truce, “dozens of armed men wearing masks appeared in a main square to hand over detainees,” in reference to the presence of the movement’s fighters in the area where the occupation army fought fierce battles and was believed to have weakened the movement’s control over it.
It quoted the former head of the Palestinian department in Israeli military intelligence as saying that “a third of Gaza City is outside the control of Israeli forces, including areas expected to be heavily fortified.”
The American newspaper’s report explained that the occupation army circumvented known Hamas military strongholds, including Shuja’iya, where some of the most ferocious battles in Operation Cast Lead took place in 2008, and where Hamas was likely holed up to fight.
It quoted military officials as saying that the battle there “will be very difficult” and that Hamas “has already prepared all its infrastructure.”
An Israeli official, who refused to reveal his identity, stated that the occupation army’s operations in the south of the Gaza Strip will be different from its operations in the north.
The Washington Post indicated that the real battle in the Gaza Strip has not yet begun, explaining that estimates indicate that a third of the resistance tunnels are still intact.
According to the newspaper, the occupation claimed that 5,000 Hamas members were killed, noting that these are merely estimates and there is no evidence of their accuracy.
The newspaper points out that the total number of resistance deaths is less important to the occupation, which seeks to undermine the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, whom the occupation army described as “a dead man walking.”
The occupation has allocated much of its intelligence forces to locate Sinwar and the main leaders of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas al-Qassam movement, such as Muhammad al-Deif, the brigades’ chief of staff.
The newspaper reported that despite two months having passed since the Israeli aggression on Gaza, Hamas is still capable of launching rockets towards Israel. It fired several shells towards southern Israel on Tuesday, and one of its rockets hit a residential building in the city of Ashkelon.
The Washington Post quoted the head of the intelligence department at the risk consulting firm Le Beck International as saying that it will be difficult for Israel to completely destroy Hamas’ missile capabilities, as many of them are produced locally.
He added that Israel must “actually go and find missile manufacturing factories and disrupt the flow of materials…. Reaching the day when Hamas cannot launch any missiles towards Israel is a difficult day to reach.”
