“From Hamas’ perspective, they are making a major comeback as the dominant force in Gaza,” Dr. Michael Milshtein, a senior fellow at Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center, told 103FM on Thursday about developments in the Gaza Strip in context. hostage-taking and ceasefire.
“Their situation is not bad. It’s terrible for us to say that because we wanted to see an organization beaten, battered and maybe even barely existing. Yesterday, the Gaza education system announced the upcoming reopening of schools, even if 85% of schools no longer exist 6,000 Hamas police officers have been deployed throughout the strip, which makes it clear to all those responsible and signals that there is no point in talking about “afterwards. -war””, he declared.
“We need to understand the mindset of many Palestinians, especially Hamas: in their view, the price was worth it. In their view, 50,000 people died, and the destruction of Gaza is the justified price of evil caused to Israel and their national pride I am not justifying them, but it is their speech, and it is time that we understand that,” he added.
“The prevailing feeling is one of genuine success. Blinken talked about 4,000 new Hamas recruits, and that’s just in the last few months. They will use the near future to rebuild. That means organizational structures, new appointments of commanders and attempts to locate weapons wherever possible.
Milshtein continued and addressed statements made by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said the fighting should not stop: “I will say where Smotrich is wrong. I also want Hamas to cease to exist, but the war flag waved here over the past 15 months has not allowed us to achieve this goal. The agreement saved us from finding ourselves stuck in a war of attrition without borders and without a clear strategy. I don’t think the strategy managed over the last year and a half could have gotten us there. to the fall of Hamas. »
“Here we must take a long-term view. The immediate future must be invested in the release of the hostages. At the same time, we must prepare a long-term plan, not just for the next few days, on how to completely release the hostages and dismantle Hamas,” he added. “This is real planning for the conquest of the whole of Gaza, which does not currently exist.
Mission accomplished?
“With all due respect to Smotrich’s statements, they remain good slogans. I did not understand how, after four months of intense fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, we had achieved the goal of dismantling Hamas The proof was made on Sunday when you saw that almost everywhere, people returned to work yesterday, Hamas brandished one of the major symbols of this declaration: the commander of Beit Hanoun, who we thought we had. killed, ended up still alive.
Asked about the future, he said: “It’s a journey that spans many years. This is not an event that will end in a few months, or even in a few years. This is why long-term planning is necessary, which we did not have. on October 7.
“With all due respect to the plans formulated here over the last 15 months, they were not in-depth plans. After closing the deal, we need to start looking ahead and planning long-term actions. continue to live with Hamas in the long term, and we believe that this will change as we thought before October 7. I don’t know if this leadership style is suited for this, but I hope future leaders learn from it. lessons.
