Nine months ago the Islamic Resistance Movement, infamously known as Hamas, launched its horrific attack on Israel that killed 1,139 people: 695 Israeli civilians (including 38 children), 71 foreign nationals, and 373 members of the security forces; about 240 Israeli and non-Israeli  civilians and soldiers were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip, including 30 children with the stated goal to force the State of Israel to exchange them for imprisoned Palestinians, including women and children.

Ever since the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) counter-offensive when it invaded northern and southern Gaza with approximately 40,000 combat troops, Israeli has dropped at least 70,000 tons of bombs—including the devastating 2,000 pound bombs—on the territory  (surpassing the combined weight of bombs dropped on London, Dresden, and Hamburg in all of World War II), destroyed or damaged over half of all buildings in Gaza, and limited the territory’s access to water, food, and electricity, leaving the entire population on the brink of famine. The number of casualties amounts to over 37,000 people, mostly women and children, in addition to 80 per cent of the population being displaced—approximately 10,000 Hamas soldiers have been killed.

Failed IDF Counter-Offensive

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised both to annihilate Hamas and to bring back every hostage safely. Not only has he failed to fulfil both promises—Hamas has released 116 captives as part of a short-lived hostage-and-ceasefire deal agreed between Hamas and Israel that lasted from 24 November to 1 December—Israel now finds itself fighting the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah across the northern border in Lebanon.

Part of the inability to eradicate Hamas and bring an end to the war in Gaza is the limited Israeli strategy, which simulates the of the United States during the Vietnam War:‘search and destroy’ operations. The ‘search and destroy’ is a military tactic that consist of inserting infantry forces into hostile territory and directing them to search and then attack enemy targets before immediately withdrawing.

This made the Viet Cong grow stronger and eventually force the Americans out of Vietnam.

In like manner, just as the Americans underestimated their Vietnamese opponents, or like Russian President Vladimir Putin misread the Ukrainian defense of their homeland, the Israelis have miscalculated the resoluteness of the Hamas militants, as that of their supporters.

Hamas, to this day, remains intractable and has evolved into a tenacious and deadly guerrilla force in Gaza, notwithstanding lethal operations restarting in the northern regions that were supposedly cleared by Israel only a few months ago. In essence, the militant group are at home and have been able to pick the time and place to engage the IDF. Hamas, like the Viet Cong, has inflicted significant casualties on the IDF as they fade away into a tunnel, behind a building, or into the civilian population. As of last December, over 500 soldiers, 57 officers, and Israeli policemen have fallen in battle—the IDF says 300 were killed on the 7th of October.

Despite its losses—U.S. intelligence estimates approximately 10,000 Hamas soldiers have been killed by the IDF—the Islamic terrorist organization remains in de facto control of large swaths of the Gaza Strip, including those areas where the territory’s civilians are now concentrated. The jihadists also enjoy remarkable support from Gazans, allowing them to seize humanitarian supplies almost at will and easily return to areas previously ‘cleared’ by the IDF.

Three recent Palestinian public opinion polls conducted reveal sustained support for Hamasin Gaza as well as in the West Bank. The poll, carried out by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, surveyed 1,570 adults between 26 May–1 June. It showed that ‘support for Hamas over the past three months has increased by 6 percentage points’ and ‘about half of Gazans expect Hamas to win the war and return to rule the Gaza Strip; only a quarter of Gazans expect Israel to win’.

The support of the umma (community) helps these terrorists who have been depleted by the IDF to recharge their batteries, avoid detection, and access more human recruits and material resources necessary to mobilize and sustain lethal campaigns of violence.

Hamas’ Source of Strength

The source of strength of jihadist groups, like Hamas does not necessarily derive from material factors, such as weapons, or from finances. Instead, the terrorists’ most crucial source of power

comes from their capability to both recruit and enlist new generations of Muslims

who are willing to blindly carry out lethal campaigns, even if it means their own death, i.e., become martyrs for their faith.

A Muslim’s self-sacrificial combat against nonbelievers — in this case the Israelis and their supporters — in the battlefield has an elevated status in the hadiths and juridical literature, as distinct from those of noncombatants.^[1] As narrated by the Islamic chroniclers, those who profess Allah as the one true God must take up the sword and fight for Islam. Martyrdom in itself, therefore, begets a politicization of the relationship between rival groups while imbuing the political challenge between them with a significant meaning: the promise of eternal life:

• He who goes forth in Allah’s path and dies or is killed is a martyr, or has his neck broken through being thrown by his horse or by his camel, or is stung by a poisonous creature, or dies on his bed by any kind of death Allah wishes is a martyr and will go to Paradise. — Sunan Abu Dawood, hadith 2499

• A man whose face was covered with an iron mask (i.e. clad in armour) came to the Prophet and said: ‘O Allah’s Apostle! Shall I fight or embrace Islam first?’ The Prophet said, ‘Embrace Islam first and then fight.’ So he embraced Islam, and was martyred. Allah’s Apostle said, A Little work, but a great reward. “(He did very little (after embracing Islam), but he will be rewarded in abundance).’ — Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith 2808

‘Most terrorists, including Islamist groups in the Middle East’, explains Robert A. Pape, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats at the University of Chicago, ‘are walk-in volunteers, often either angry over the loss of family members or friends or more generally enraged at a powerful state’s use of heavy military force’.

Current Situation

The IDF’s massive unsuccessful bombing and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip has only rehashed Palestinian support for attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel. Indeed, in March, 73 per cent of Palestinians believed Hamas was right to launch the October 7 attack. This is a 20 per cent increase from September 2023 when only 53 per cent of the Palestinian population supported armed attacks against Israeli civilians.

Netanyahu has dissolved his war Cabinet last month after former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, a political rival, stepped down, accusing the prime minister of standing in the way of ‘real victory’. It is as if he is one of the few who fails to see, or rather,

refuses to accept that under the present situation Hamas cannot and will not be defeated.

Incidentally, Netanyahu’s failure is not because the Biden administration is withholding weapons; Washington has only held back on the aforementioned 2,000 pound bombs. In truth, Biden  has kept his commitment to sell $1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel.

The heart of the issue is the Islamic indoctrination of Palestinian Muslims, more so with the disproportioned aggression of the IDF, for which human rights violations concerns have been raised by the international community. Just like organized crime in southern Italy, whether it is called the Mafia or the ‘Ndrangheta, capturing and imprisoning the militants or killing them will not end Hamas. As clearly stipulated by Israeli Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari:

‘Hamas is an idea. Anyone who thinks we can eliminate Hamas is wrong. The political echelon needs to find an alternative–or it will remain [in the Gaza Strip].’

The views expressed by our guest authors are theirs and do not necessarily represent the views of Hungarian Conservative.

^[1] Meir Hatina, Martyrdom in Modern Islam: Piety, Power, and Politics. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2013, 54.