Analysts and regional observers see the latest blows Hamas has suffered as offering Israeli forces a short-term victory at the cost of long-term strategic success.
First came the death of its top leader abroad, Ismail Haniyeh, by a bomb planted in Tehran. Then came Israel’s announcement that, only weeks earlier, it had killed Hamas’ most elusive and revered military leader. All of this as Israel continues to wage the deadliest war Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip have ever faced.
The military campaign Israel has waged in retaliation for Hamas’ October 7 attacks has displaced about 90 per cent of Gaza’s 2 million residents, razed swaths of the enclave’s cities and killed 39,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Iranians follow a truck carrying the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard, who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel.His loss, too, will be difficult for Hamas. Haniyeh was seen by regional analysts as a more moderate figure within the Islamist movement, acting as a bridge between its rival factions. He was also seen as a leader willing to push for mediation, including the continuing, if faltering, ceasefire talks with Israel.
In the 1970s, Israel killed Wadi Haddad, the military leader of the communist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which led to that group’s collapse. A decade later, a new Palestinian foe had replaced it: Yasser Arafat’s nationalist force, Fatah. Israel killed its popular military leader, Khalil al-Wazir, but failed to cripple the group.
Haniyeh’s life story provides a different lesson in the unintended consequences of some of Israel’s attempts to incapacitate Hamas. He was among 400 Palestinians expelled by Israel from Gaza to southern Lebanon, then under Israeli military occupation. Instead of being sidelined, figures like Haniyeh gained further popularity.
“They got a lot of external support in terms of finance and training, but in terms of their logistics, a lot of that is homemade,” Mustafa said. “Which is why, even now, almost 10 months in, you haven’t seen the resistance wane.”
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