Hamas holds out in north Gaza with guerilla tactics

JERUSALEM - The top commanders of Hamas are mostly dead. The group's rank and file has been decimated. Many of its hideouts and stockpiles have been captured and destroyed.

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But Hamas' killing of an Israeli colonel in the northern Gaza Strip on Oct 20 underscored how the group's military wing, though unable to operate as a conventional army, is still a potent guerilla force with enough fighters and munitions to enmesh the Israeli military in a slow, grinding and as yet unwinnable war.

Colonel Ehsan Daksa, a member of Israel's Arab Druse minority, was killed when a planted explosive blew up near his tank convoy. It was a surprise attack that exemplified how Hamas has held out for nearly a year since Israel invaded Gaza in late October 2023, and will likely be able to even after the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar last week.

Hamas' remaining fighters are hiding from view in ruined buildings and the group's vast underground tunnel network, much of which remains intact despite Israel's efforts to destroy it, according to military analysts and Israeli soldiers.

The fighters emerge briefly in small units to booby-trap buildings, set roadside bombs, attach mines to Israeli armoured vehicles or fire rocket-propelled grenades at Israeli forces before attempting to return underground.

While Hamas cannot defeat Israel in a frontal battle, its smallscale, hit-and-run approach has allowed it to continue to inflict harm on Israel and avoid defeat, even if, according to Israel's unverified count, Hamas has lost more than 17,000 fighters since the start of the war.

"The guerilla forces are working well, and it will be very difficult to subdue them - not just in the short run, but in the long term," said Mr Salah al-Din al-Awawdeh, a Hamas member and a former fighter in the group's military wing who is now an analyst based in Istanbul.

Though Israel may have destroyed Hamas' long-range rocket caches, Mr al-Awawdeh said, "there are still endless explosive devices and light arms at hand".