Hamas Emerges From Tunnels Still Intact, Starts ‘Policing’ Gaza Again

ZEROHEDGE | Published January 21, 2025

Since the Gaza ceasefire deal took effect Sunday morning, there’s been clear evidence that Hamas is still intact and operating in various parts of the Gaza Strip even after some 470 days of war.

Among Prime Minister Netanyahu’s goals was the complete eradication of Hamas in the wake of the Oct.7 terror attack and taking of hostages. But Hamas commanders have been emerging from the tunnels and parading openly on streets as the ceasefire holds.

Over the past year-plus of fighting both the political leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh, and its Gaza commander, Yahya Sinwar, have been killed – so certainly Hamas has taken serious blows, but it still has many thousands of fighters ready to carry on.

Associated Press: A bus carrying released Palestinian prisoners arrives to the West Bank city of Beitunia on Monday.

“Hamas appears to be emerging from tunnels and rubble in Gaza to show that it never lost control of most of the area despite fifteen months of war,” The Jerusalem Post acknowledges in a fresh report. “While Hamas suffered many blows from the IDF, it was able to recruit new members, and it even kept trucks and vans ready to return to the streets and show its presence.”

“Videos purported to be from Gaza show the group in white pickup trucks driving around,” the report continues. “The videos show large groups of armed men waving to crowds or standing and sitting on vehicles that are parading them through the streets.

Additionally, “Hamas police, an arm of the terrorist group, are also reappearing. They have been around throughout the war, but their presence has not been as clearly felt in some areas.”

An Al Jazeera regional correspondent has also witnessed evidence of Hamas being organizationally intact:

What happened earlier in Gaza City’s Saraya Square is that the military wing of Hamas handed over three female Israeli captives in a scene that felt beyond imagination.

The military wing of Hamas – which has been engaging in battles with the Israeli occupation forces across many areas in the Gaza Strip – appeared today, organising the implementation of the deal and the exchange of the Israeli captives.

We saw crowds of Palestinians gathering in the area around the fighters of the military wing of Hamas, chanting for liberation and freedom.

So, apparently, despite the significant blows that the military wing of Hamas has endured, they appeared today as an organized force on the ground.

This could indicate that in the foreseeable future, they will still exist as a military force despite the Israeli claims that they managed to degrade their military capabilities and eradicate their military governance of the territory.

Israeli society is witnessing this too, and it is likely creating some dissonance. After all, if the Israeli military has been engaged in a lengthy, full and systematic air and ground campaign in Gaza – and Netanyahu government leaders have faced skepticism in claiming they can finally destroy Hamas.

But the US experience in Iraq and Afghanistan has already demonstrated that an Islamist insurgency is extremely hard to fully root out. This trend is also now on display in Gaza as Hamas militants appear in public.

 

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SOURCE: ŵww.zerohedge.com

RELATED: After 15 months of war, Hamas still rules over what remains of Gaza

Hamas remains in control of Gaza post-ceasefire, despite heavy losses in Israel’s military campaign

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST | Published January 21, 2025

As a ceasefire brought calm to Gaza’s ruined cities, Hamas was quick to emerge from hiding.

The militant group has not only survived 15 months of war with Israel – among the deadliest and most destructive in recent memory – but it remains firmly in control of the coastal territory that now resembles an apocalyptic wasteland.

With a surge of humanitarian aid promised as part of the ceasefire deal, the Hamas-run government said Monday that it will coordinate distribution to the desperate people of Gaza.

For all the military might Israel deployed in Gaza, it failed to remove Hamas from power, one of its central war aims. That could make a return to fighting more likely, but the results might be the same.

Palestinian Hamas police in Gaza City. Photo: Reuters
Palestinian Hamas police in Gaza City. Photo: Reuters

There was an element of theatre in Sunday’s handover of three Israeli hostages to the Red Cross, when dozens of masked Hamas fighters wearing green headbands and military fatigues paraded in front of cameras and held back a crowd of hundreds who surrounded the vehicles.

The scenes elsewhere in Gaza were even more remarkable: thousands of Hamas-run police in uniform re-emerged, making their presence known even in the most heavily destroyed areas.

“The police have been here the whole time, but they were not wearing their uniforms” to avoid being targeted by Israel, said Mohammed Abed, a father of three who returned to his home in Gaza City more than seven months after fleeing the area.

“They were among the displaced people in the tents. That’s why there were no thefts,” he said.

Other residents said the police had maintained offices in hospitals and other locations throughout the war, where people could report crimes.

Israel has repeatedly blamed Hamas for the heavy civilian death toll and damage to infrastructure because the group’s fighters and security forces embed themselves in residential neighbourhoods, schools and hospitals.

Opinion polls consistently show that only a minority of Palestinians support Hamas. But the Islamic militant group – which does not accept Israel’s existence – is deeply rooted in Palestinian society, with an armed wing, a political party, media and charities that date back to its founding in the late 1980s.

 

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SOURCE: www.scmp.com

 

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