Six Months Later, Hamas Is in Control
Apr. 19, 2024
While the world focuses on the brewing cycle of Israel-Iran retaliation, the war in Gaza lingers on. In fact, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Hamas is dictating ceasefire terms from beneath the rubble of Gaza and the bodies of its own people.
The terrorist group has rejected the most recent plan worked out by international negotiators. Hamas is insisting on returning only half the hostages proposed and other terms it knows are unpalatable to even an Israeli government under domestic and international pressure.
In the wake of the Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas, which left 1,200 people dead in Israel and more than 230 Israelis taken as hostages to Gaza, Israel has conquered much of the small strip of land where Hamas has been in power for most of two decades. The price in Palestinian lives has been brutal.
Tens of thousands have likely been killed, including fighters, women, and children. Palestinians are reported to be facing famine. Israel’s quest to root out Hamas underground has destroyed a vast number of buildings where Gaza’s people had lived and worked. But this is a cost in civilian lives and misery that Hamas is quite willing to bear.
Normally the losers of a war surrender to end the death and devastation afflicting their people. Not so for Hamas. The reason for this stupefying defiance of all wartime norms of victory and defeat is simple: so far, Hamas has been winning.
No, the group cannot defeat Israel on the battlefield above ground. But by provoking a war that has captured the world’s attention unlike other tragedies, they have found another way to win. There is a new effort in the United Nations to recognize “Palestine” an independent state, even though one has never existed.
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