Situation at a glance: Hamas in northern Gaza allegedly on the rise

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is apparently still a long way from his self-proclaimed “total victory” over the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip. According to an Israeli media report, the terrorist organization has been regaining strength in some areas more than eleven months since the war began. Especially in the northern section of the sealed-off coastal strip, Hamas is recovering faster than the Israeli armed forces can weaken Hamas’ military capabilities, reported the Israeli TV station Kan. There was no official confirmation of this.

One of the government’s declared war aims is to end Hamas’ rule in the Gaza Strip and destroy its military capabilities. At the beginning of the war after the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7, Israel’s army initially took massive action against the terrorist organization in northern Gaza. In January, Israel’s Defense Ministry declared the intensive fighting against Hamas in northern Gaza to be over. The army then concentrated on destroying the last Islamist fighting units in the south of the sealed-off coastal strip.

The Israeli army has not advanced into the north of the Gaza Strip for months, the broadcaster reported. Hamas has used this time to regroup there and prepare for the “next phase of the war.” This is one of the main reasons for the current increase in Israeli air strikes on Hamas command and control centers in the northern Gaza Strip, the broadcaster reported.

Israel’s army: Attack aimed at Hamas command center

Just on Sunday, according to military sources, the Israeli Air Force attacked the building of a former school in the northern Gaza Strip, where Hamas had set up a command and control center. Rocket attacks on Israeli targets had been carried out from there in recent weeks, the army said.

There were no initial reports of possible casualties. The Israeli military said that measures had been taken before the attack to reduce the danger to civilians. Palestinian eyewitnesses reported that the army had initially fired a single rocket, apparently with the aim of getting refugees to leave the building. Just a few days earlier, many people had died in an attack on a former school building. Israel had also spoken of a Hamas control center.

In February, Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu predicted a victory over Hamas within weeks. “Total victory” was supposedly within reach. But the reality on the battlefield seems to be different.

Hamas has already been decimated militarily, said Defense Minister Joav Galant in May. “But as long as Hamas maintains control over civilian life in Gaza, it can rebuild and strengthen itself, so that the Israeli army has to come back and fight in areas where it was already deployed,” Galant said at the time. He demanded that a political alternative to Hamas’ rule in Gaza be created. Netanyahu, on the other hand, had declared that it was pointless to talk about the future administration of the coastal strip before a victory over Hamas.

No end to the war in sight

But even after almost a year, there is still no sign of an end to the war. Critics accuse Netanyahu of allowing the sealed-off coastal area to sink into chaos due to the lack of a precise plan for stabilizing and administering Gaza. Israel’s troops are in danger of being drawn into an endless guerrilla war by Hamas. Israel’s Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi warned months ago of a “Sisyphean task.”

But the army is not only involved in fighting in the Gaza war, Israel’s enemies are also exerting pressure on other fronts. Israel should prepare for “more attacks,” warned the military spokesman for the Houthi militia in Yemen on Sunday, after the militia had fired a ballistic missile at Israel shortly before. Israel’s army announced that the surface-to-surface missile had apparently broken up in the air and landed in an open area.

Netanyahu: We are in a multi-front war

Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu announced a tough response. “Anyone who attacks us will not escape our fist,” Netanyahu said. “We are in a multi-front war against the Iranian axis of evil that wants to destroy us,” Netanyahu said. The so-called resistance axis includes militias allied with Iran, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi militia in Yemen.

Meanwhile, the sirens wailed again in northern Israel during the night, as the Israeli army announced on Telegram. Only the day before, dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon into the north of the country. The Shiite militia Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attacks, which were said to have targeted an Israeli military base. The Israeli army announced that around 40 missiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel.

Another rocket alert in northern Israel

Since the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas began almost a year ago, there have been almost daily military confrontations between the Israeli army and Hezbollah in the border region between the two countries. There have been deaths on both sides. Hezbollah says it is acting in solidarity with Hamas. In an attack on October 7 last year, terrorists from Hamas and other extremist organizations killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and took around 250 more hostage to Gaza. The unprecedented massacre sparked the war.

Since the war began, the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip has risen to more than 41,200, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. The number does not distinguish between fighters and civilians and is difficult to verify.