War on Gaza: Israeli officers say Hamas still firmly rooted as governing authority
Senior Israeli military officials have said Hamas is still firmly rooted as the governing authority in the Gaza Strip and raised doubt it could be overthrown.
In a Yedioth Ahronoth news article published on Thursday, members of the Israeli military's general staff said the Palestinian group's civilian control of the strip has been weakened but remains unchallenged.
They added that the population of the war-torn enclave are not close to turning against Hamas.
"The majority of the Gazan public did not see the IDF soldiers for most of this long period of 14 months of fighting, and therefore Hamas is still firmly rooted in the Gazans as a government, because it has no competitor," the officials were quoted as saying.
According to them, Hamas has resumed payments to its officials and members, creating a "mechanism of financial compensation", despite the economic hardship experienced across the beseiged enclave.
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In Gaza City, "Hamas is trying to demonstrate to them that they govern by controlling reasonable prices in the markets," they added.
Hamas also leads some of the charitable work through the distribution of aid.
Recently, the government reconstructed the Rantisi Hospital in the northern part of the enclave, reopening it for patients after it was shut down due to Israeli attacks.
"Hamas, for example, took the credit for the major polio vaccination operation that Israel has allowed to take place and the entry into the Gaza Strip in recent months, and it is working to suppress pockets of opposition to [its] rule that sometimes pop up in demonstrations," the officials said.
Hamas rebuilds itself
One of the major obstacles to overthrowing Hamas is the presence of living Israeli captives in Gaza, they added.
This is preventing the military and civilian collapse of Hamas' authority, which stops Israel from achieving its declared goals of the war.
The presence of captives has meant that the conduct of the war is restricted due to fears that it could lead to their deaths, the officials explained.
Should they not be there, the Israeli military would be able to launch attacks in Gaza without any limits.
"There are no ground operations or attacks being carried out in large areas of the strip, allowing Hamas to take advantage of this to restore its military capabilities in these areas, including in the northern Gaza Strip," they said.
"In practice, this is how Hamas manages to re-establish its partial rule in the strip."
This is why the officers are calling for a prisoner swap deal with Hamas since the group will otherwise continue to rebuild itself.
In June, Prime Ministry Benjamin Netanyahu said there would be no permanent ceasefire until Hamas’ military and governing capabilities were destroyed and all captives held in Gaza were released.
Meanwhile, Hamas has been adamant that any ceasefire deal must eventually lead to the total withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
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