The Jerusalem Post reports that analysts say Hamas has been dealt a heavy blow and that Israel’s response has been “surprising” to Hamas.
Photo: Hamas supporters watch a march of Hamas militants in downtown Gaza City.
In the Jerusalem Post article, analysts say Hamas was dealt a severe blow after it badly misjudged Israel’s response to its rocket attack.
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, so far, have dropped nearly 4,000 rockets from Gaza into Israeli territory in less than two weeks. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system has successfully intercepted the bulk of them in the air.
However, 12 Israelis have been killed and hundreds injured.
According to Dr. Harel Cholev, an expert in Palestinian affairs and director of the Moshe Dayan Center’s Cyber Analysis Desk at Tel Aviv University, Hamas suffered significant losses in the round of fighting. Speaking to Media Line, Cholev said, “Hamas has failed in every strategic calculation: many of their tunnels in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, and their maritime forces have been paralyzed. “
“This will be a lesson Hamas should consider due to the heavy losses. The difference from 2014 during Operation Protective Edge is that (this time) they were not prepared.”
Israel destroyed a network of underground tunnels inside the Palestinian enclave that were used to hide rockets and launchers. IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Hardy Zilberman said Wednesday that Israeli Air Force planes struck 15 kilometers (about 9 miles) of tunnels Tuesday night, dropping 122 bombs on the southern Gaza Strip.
When Hamas began firing rockets into Israel last week, they mistakenly thought the fighting would last only a day or two, Chollev said. “They are having a hard time restoring the underground infrastructure,” he said, “and they think Netanyahu is not amenable to launching attacks now, but the opposite is true. Politically, it’s working quite well for him. “
Hamas’ current strategy relies on a combination of guerrilla tactics and more traditional military weapons, such as rockets and mortars, he added. While Israel has mostly succeeded in countering the group’s rockets and has been effective against fighters in Gaza without the need to send in ground troops. But Hamas has also scored some surprising victories in helping to inflame divisions between Arabs and Jews in Israel. The recent riots and unrest in several towns, according to Qorev, “are Hamas’ main asset, and they are completely surprised by this and are trying to radicalize (the situation) more and more.”
The Islamist group, which runs the Gaza Strip, has scored some points in other key strategic areas, including undermining the Palestinian Authority, which recently canceled general elections in the West Bank. In addition, they have succeeded in bringing the international focus down on the Palestinian issue. Hamas has also made progress in terms of firepower, according to a former Israeli counterterrorism chief. Brig. Gen. Nitzan Nuriel, a researcher at the International Institute for Counterterrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, told Media Line, “Of course, the damage is greater when (rockets are fired) at greater speeds and with larger warheads.
Nuriel, a former director of Israel’s counterterrorism bureau, noted that Hamas recently designed a system that can fire multiple rockets at the same time.
Nouriel said, “From the size of the missile to the range and the size of the warhead, Hamas’ missile capabilities in all these areas, have been improved.” They have all improved thanks to Iran’s expertise and through experimentation.
Much of the material used by the organization to build weapons comes from the Rafah crossing, which is located between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Some of them (such as pipes) are standard construction materials.
The Egyptian system is not as tight as ours (the blockade), so I guess Hamas is trying to smuggle materials through the Rafah crossing,” Nuriel said. Ten percent of the pipelines entering Gaza are converted into rockets or else the metal is melted down so it can be reshaped into the relevant shapes. ”
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