Hamas' refusal to give up fighting in Gaza is rooted in its ideology

Group believes it can eventually get a deal that does not require its surrender: Analysts

- Adam Rasgon

JERUSALEM - Israel has killed thousands of Hamas' fighters, taken out most of the militant group's senior military command, and destroyed much of its arsenal and underground tunnel network.

The country's relentless military campaign has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, cities have been reduced to rubble, and people have struggled daily to find enough food, water and electricity.

And yet Hamas has refused to surrender. The group wants to secure its future in the Gaza Strip, but its unwillingness to give up to Israel and disarm is also rooted in its ideology.

Since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, which ignited the war in Gaza, the group's leaders have acknowledged that the resulting Israeli counter-attack has caused enormous destruction.

But they have said it is a "price" Palestinians must pay for their ultimate freedom.

In interviews, some Hamas leaders have said that the group's calculation was less about defeating Israel on the battlefield, and more about drawing the government into an intractable conflict, one that isolates it diplomatically and undermines its international support.

Eventually, they say, Israel will be compelled to realise that its policies towards Palestinians are not sustainable.

"Surrender, as Israel and America are calling for it, is not in Hamas' dictionary," said Professor Khaled al-Hroub from Northwestern University in Qatar, who has written books about the group.

The leader of Hamas' military wing Izz al-Din al-Haddad said recently that if he cannot get what he described as an honourable deal to end the war with Israel, then the conflict would become a war of liberation or the group would face "martyrdom", according to a senior Middle Eastern intelligence official familiar with the leader's thinking.