Description
Israel’s other key goal — the rescue of hostages held by Hamas — has been an unequivocal failure, experts say. Analyst Andreas Krieg characterizes the military approach to this objective as a strategic blunder.“More hostages have actually been released through dialogue, discourse, mediation, in November last year than have been released through military means,” he said, pointing out that Israel’s military raids have often led to tragic outcomes. “Every time the IDF (Israeli military) has tried to release hostages … they usually killed the hostages.”
Krieg believes that non-military methods would have been far more effective in securing the release of hostages, a view shared by Kusovac. “If the real goal was liberation of hostages … that has not been achieved,” Kusovac said, adding that only a limited number have been freed, with the majority still in Hamas’ hands.
While Israel has managed to reduce some of Hamas’ capabilities, the destruction is far from complete. Krieg notes that Hamas’ ability to launch significant attacks has been hampered by the devastation in Gaza, but its core military structure remains largely intact.
“The sheer destruction on the ground across the Gaza Strip means that much of the military structure that Hamas was using is now being destroyed,” Krieg said. “It makes it more difficult for Hamas to launch rocket attacks into Israel.”
However, Hamas’ tunnel network, a critical component of its strategy, remains a formidable obstacle. Just a third of the tunnels have been destroyed, and a lot of the tunnel systems are still operational and functional, Krieg added.
| Period | 4 Oct 2024 |
|---|---|
| Held at | Anadolu Agency , Turkey |
Keywords
- Israel
- Hamas