Wednesday 27 December 2023

Where are the top Hamas leaders on Israel's Most Wanted list?

Everyone in Gaza knows who Israel is hunting for, but do any of them know where they are? The top two on Israel's Most Wanted list are Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader in Gaza, and Mohammed Deif, head of the Hamas military wing, the Qassam Brigades. The latest flyers dropped all over Gaza by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), offering bounties for their capture, claim Hamas is finished, and using an Arabic folk phrase, say the Hamas leaders can no longer fry an egg. In fact, Hamas is putting up a helluva fight when confronted by the IDF. The casualty statistics are bleak: Israel claims to have killed around 8,000 Hamas fighters and has acknowledged that 162 IDF soldiers have died.The fact that Israel is admitting the war could go on for months indicates that the military objective of wiping out Hamas is not going to be easy and may well be totally unrealistic. To reach this goal in Gaza alone would mean the killing or capturing of around 4,000 fighters. So, to put it bluntly, that's 32,000 to go. Then there's the Hamas organisation in Qatar and elements in several other places, such as the West Bank and Lebanon. Are they all to be eliminated as well? Sinwar and Deif are still functioning as the top leaders but even if they were to be killed or captured, other leaders will be ready to step in. This is the way such organisations work. Al-Qaeda, for example, has lost many leaders in the past but others have been appointed. Those IDF flyers, I fear, are somewhat premature. If the IDF does find Sinwar and Deif, will Israel claim a major victory and start thinking of ending the war or will it just be a spur to continue until all 40,000 Hamas members have been annihilated?

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