He is always on the move. Hamas released four Israeli hostages on Saturday January 25, almost a week after the start of the truce in the Gaza Strip. It was fighters from the al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist group, who handed over the detainees to the Red Cross, as they did a week ago, for the release of three women. The operation, planned as part of the agreement with Tel Aviv, is also an opportunity for Hamas to show that it is still very present in the Palestinian enclave.
For fifteen months, the fighters of the Palestinian Islamist group took refuge in their sprawling network of tunnels, in order to escape the Israeli army. But from the first hours of the truce, Sunday January 19, they reappeared on the streets of Gaza. In Deir al-Balah and Khan Younes, they marched in cars, among civilians celebrating the ceasefire. “We didn’t expect it. They had new vehicles and new clothes, as if they lived in hotels and not tunnels”was surprised by a resident, interviewed by Canadian radio CBC News.
The release of the hostages was another opportunity for Hamas to show what strength it still has. On Sunday, January 19, dozens of fighters from the al-Qassam brigades, with masked faces and green headbands on their foreheads, escorted the Red Cross vehicles that came to pick up the first three released Israeli women. A staging organized again on Saturday January 25, Hamas having even chosen to have the four released soldiers mount on a platform, dressed in military clothing. “The chosen location is not insignificant: in the heart of Gaza City, in the north, where the offensive was the hardest”notes Thomas Vescovi, researcher and author of several works on the occupied Palestinian territories. There “staging” aimed to give “the image of a resilient organization, far from capitulation”continues the historian.
The deployment of force is, above all, a communications operation. After fifteen months of conflict, the assassination of its leader Ismaïl Haniyeh and the death of its leader in Gaza Yahya Sinouar, “Hamas is diminished”notes Thomas Vescovi. An Israeli general said on Tuesday, January 21, that his army had killed “20 000 agents” of the Palestinian movement since the start of the war in Gaza. “The majority of the organization’s leadership was killed”insisted the soldier.
The Islamist group has not been eradicated, however. In mid-January, former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured that “Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost” since the attacks of October 7. The Islamist group “regenerates”deciphers Leila Seurat, researcher at the Arab Center for Research and Political Studies. “The more Gazans die from bombs, the more young Palestinians of fighting age are ready to do so.”
As the Associated Press explains, Hamas is all the more difficult to oust because it is not just an armed group supported by Iran. It is also a political movement, in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007. It established “a quasi-state structure with ministries, a press service and everything needed to manage the population”detailed Thomas Vescovi to franceinfo at the start of the conflict.
With the ceasefire, Hamas has resumed a form of governance in the Gaza Strip. On Monday January 20, he announced that he would coordinate the distribution of humanitarian aid, finally delivered to the territory subject to an almost total blockade. According to Reuters, Palestinian movement officials have also begun clearing rubble in towns devastated by Israeli strikes or repairing damaged water pipes. “We currently have 18 000 employees who work daily to restore basic services for civilians”welcomed Ismaïl al-Thawabta, spokesperson for the Gazan government.
At the same time, Hamas police were once again deployed across the enclave. “We want to avoid any vacancy in security power”justified Ismaïl al-Thawabta to Reuters, affirming that 700 members of the security forces had been mobilized to protect the humanitarian convoys.
Although it is difficult to assess the state of its forces, Hamas has never really disappeared. “The police have always been there, but without uniform”a Gazan tells the Associated Press. “They were among the displaced, in the tents, and that’s why there were no thefts.” Other residents assured the news agency that the police had set up their offices in hospitals, continuing to register complaints there during the fighting.
“When the security situation deteriorated in southern Gaza, with multiple riots and attacks on convoys by gangs, it was also Hamas which sent its men to restore a semblance of order,” notes Thomas Vescovi. Throughout the conflict, “each time the Israeli army withdrew from an area, a form of semi-authority [du groupe islamiste] came back”continues the historian.
“Hamas is still there because it fills a void: it is, to date, the only force capable of ensuring a form of authority and security management in the Gaza Strip.”
Thomas Vescovi, historianat franceinfo
The objective of this show of force is not only to inflict a setback on Tel Aviv. Hamas also stakes its survival in this ceasefire. Because the Israeli government has not abandoned its main war objective: “crush” the Palestinian group. On the eve of the start of the truce, Benjamin Netanyahu even declared that his country “reserved the right to take back” conflict at any time “with the support of the United States”.
While Tel Aviv must begin new negotiations with Hamas on a “phase 2” including a definitive end to the fighting, the question of the post-war period is already being raised. Israel excludes any government led by the Islamist movement. But by showing that it remains essential in the enclave, Hamas hopes “to be able to be part of the future governance of Gaza, in one way or another”, underlines David Rigoulet-Roze, associate researcher at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations, to franceinfo.
“There is a social and political reality: as long as it benefits from a certain support among the population, from relays abroad like Qatar and Turkey, from an ability to manage the territory, we cannot replace Hamas like that”says Thomas Vescovi. A force that the Islamist group strives to show, even exaggerate, while the future of Gaza must be decided. As the historian summarizes, “Hamas can no longer lead alone, but it is complicated to do without it.”
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