Israeli media: The army has reached a situation where it is impossible to eliminate Hamas news
The Israeli media continued to talk about the faltering prisoner exchange deal, and began raising questions about the army’s ability to dismantle the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) after it resumed launching rockets from the northern Gaza Strip.
Hamas fired 20 rockets during the last 19 days, including 14 that came from the northern Gaza Strip, specifically from Beit Hanoun, as Army Radio military affairs correspondent Amir Bar Shalom said.
According to Shalom, the army “is no longer facing what was called the Hamas army, but is now facing gangs, and has reached a situation in which it cannot reach the last saboteurs (resistance fighters).”
The same opinion is held by the head of the Department of Palestine Studies at Tel Aviv University, Michael Milstein, who told Channel 12 that the army is “now facing the second version of Hamas.”
Milstein believes that the movement has moved to the stage of adaptation and has transformed from brigades to gangs, adding, “Everyone who speaks about the term defeat must know that it will not reach the last fighter nor the last cell.”
In the same context, Yossi Yehoshua, Yedioth Ahronoth’s military affairs correspondent, said that the army “faces a problem with Hamas because it is different from Hezbollah,” as he put it.
Hamas – as Yehoshua says – “is still steadfast and able to recruit more individuals, and it enjoys the support of almost all of the residents of the Gaza Strip, which makes finding an alternative to it from a vacuum difficult.”
The deal is not close
Regarding the ongoing negotiations regarding a possible prisoner exchange deal, Channel 13 military affairs correspondent Or Heller quoted a senior official as saying that the clip of the captured soldier (Liri Albag, which was broadcast by the resistance two days ago) is “terrible and shocking.”
The official stated that the negotiations have entered the stage of additional time, stressing that Hamas “knows this, and is putting pressure on Israel and throwing the ball in its court. This means that the movement’s leadership sees everything clearly and focused, unfortunately.”
At the same time, Heller said that Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy “informed the political leadership that the army is capable of implementing all the security obligations that the deal will impose, including the release of terrorists (prisoners), a withdrawal from the Netzarim and Philadelphia axes, and a cessation of fighting.”
Halevy also confirmed – during recent discussions – that the army would be able to resume fighting after the deal, Heller says.
Despite the continuous leaks about the potential deal, Channel 12 military affairs correspondent Nir Dvori confirmed that “what is being circulated in the media is completely different from what is happening behind closed doors.”
Dafouri pointed out that the ongoing negotiations in the Qatari capital, Doha, are taking place under a severe blackout, and said that “many of the differences have not been resolved because of the two parties’ adherence to demands that it is not appropriate to delve into at the present time.”
He added that “no progress has been made so far,” and that the army and government “are preparing to escalate the military operation in Gaza if the negotiations collapse.”
The dispute still exists regarding the names of the prisoners who will be included in the deal, in addition to other matters, including the survival of Israeli forces in the Philadelphia axis, according to Kan channel’s political affairs correspondent, Suleiman Maswad.
Maswada said that officials involved in the negotiations asked him to deliver a message through the media to the families of the prisoners that “there is progress, but the road is still long.”
