Hamas' resilience means our failure: ex-Israeli Minister

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
25 Nov 2023 23:27
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The head of an internal authority in the settlements surrounding Gaza says the head of the Hamas movement in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, "mocks Israelis all the time."

Israeli occupation soldiers after exiting the Gaza Strip through the border fence on November 24, 2023 (AFP)

Israeli media cited former Israeli Minister Gideon Sa'ar as saying that "if Hamas remains standing at the end of the war, then we have failed miserably."

In the same context, the head of an internal authority in the Gaza Envelope, Haim Jelin, said that the head of the Hamas movement in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, "mocks Israelis all the time."

Jelin added, "I still believe that Sinwar is manipulating us and making fun of us, so let's lower our arrogance a bit and understand that this person is playing every hour, and he may ultimately win through that."

Earlier, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth acknowledged that the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza has garnered sophisticated intelligence capacities in the lead-up to Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7th.

The military affairs analyst in the newspaper, Yossi Yehoshua, revealed that al-Qassam Brigades had documents in their possession, which included structural details of the Israeli Paratroopers Brigade, as well as its social composition. This included photos of the former brigade commander and other officers who had recently completed their service.

Yehoshua mentioned that these documents were found by a paratroopers intelligence officer in one of the Resistance's sites in Gaza.

As for the tunnel system, which has been a focal point of occupation interest for its importance in granting the Resistance swift maneuvering capabilities over the years, the newspaper described it as "unanticipated".

An officer in the Israeli military reported that the Resistance tunnels in the northern Gaza Strip, those closest to the border with the occupied Palestinian territories, were "deep, long, and operationally different from what the Israeli intelligence estimated."

On Friday, Hamas was able to successfully release 39 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons as part of a Qatari and Egyptian-mediated four-day truce between the Palestinian Resistance and the Israeli occupation which entered into force on Friday. In return, Hamas released 24 captives it held since October 7.

Following over 6 weeks of the Israeli brutal war on Gaza, which was accompanied by a near-complete blockade, a full siege on the residents, and over 1,300 massacres during the short period, the Resistance was able to enforce its initial conditions of not releasing any Israeli captive unless through an indirect prisoner exchange.