The New York Times reported that American intelligence officials informed Congress this week that Israel has weakened the combat capabilities of the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, but has not come close to eliminating the movement.
The newspaper revealed that during a closed-door session of intelligence officials in Congress, estimates regarding human losses among Hamas fighters were not discussed.
American intelligence officials pointed out that the estimates of human losses for Hamas are not accurate or meaningful, and do not indicate whether the Israeli military presence in Gaza has addressed the fundamental issues for which Israel launched the war.
At the beginning of the aggression against Gaza, the Israeli occupation government announced that eliminating Hamas was one of the primary goals of the war, but American and Israeli officials doubted its ability to do so.
Last November, the American Wall Street Journal quoted an informed source as saying that the American intelligence community doubts Israel’s ability to achieve its declared military objective of eliminating the Hamas movement.
The source added that the Israeli military campaign in Gaza could damage Hamas and its infrastructure, but it will not be able to eliminate it.
At the start of the Israeli aggression on the sector, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert harshly criticized his current counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his government, describing it as “ominous,” and stressed that eliminating Hamas and other war objectives announced by Netanyahu are impossible to achieve.
Olmert stated that the war objectives in Gaza announced by Netanyahu “were clearly baseless and unattainable from the start,” adding that the current Prime Minister “continues to state these objectives, including the complete elimination of Hamas in a theatrical manner while his hands tremble, appearing detached from reality.”
Israeli Failure
As the war enters its fifth month, it is clear that the occupation has failed to achieve its goal, as Hamas still has the ability to shell Israeli cities and towns. Reports in recent days about the renewed fighting in Gaza City and the northern areas of the sector indicate that Hamas and other Palestinian factions have renewed their ability to operate in areas that the occupation army had declared under its control.
The Israeli army radio stated last Monday that Israeli forces are still far from achieving their goal of eliminating Hamas’s rocket capability, stating that this would require an estimated one to two years.
The radio mentioned that many of the rocket launch platforms in Gaza are buried underground, making it difficult for Israeli forces to locate them.
It added that estimates indicate that Hamas still possesses around 1000 rockets, most of which are in platforms buried underground.
The army radio stated that the rocket batch that targeted Tel Aviv at the end of last January was launched from platforms in Khan Yunis, just 20 to 30 meters away from the Israeli army forces.
