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Hamas to survive, reconstitute as Israel fails to destroy command centers, tunnels: US media

Tuesday, 23 April 2024 7:21 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 23 April 2024 7:21 AM ]

The handout picture released by the Israeli military on April 18, 2024 shows the occupation soldiers at the entrance of a tunnel in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)

An American daily has highlighted Israel’s failure to destroy tunnels dug by Hamas below the Gaza Strip, saying the underground passages will allow the resistance group to “survive and reconstitute” after the ongoing Israeli aggression.

Citing current and former US officials, The New York Times reported on Monday that Israel has not been able to dismantle Gaza’s extensive tunnel system that runs for hundreds of miles, at points reaching 15 stories below ground.

The system contains larger complexes of underground rooms, used for command posts, it added.

“Despite Hamas’s heavy losses, much of its top leadership in Gaza remains in place, ensconced in a vast underground network of tunnels and operations centers,” the report said.

“Those tunnels will allow Hamas to survive and reconstitute once the fighting stops.”

The NYT report also said that the occupying regime has not achieved its primary goals of the Gaza onslaught, including “fully destroying Hamas” and finding Israeli captives held in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Israel waged its genocidal US-backed war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out a historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 34,151 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 77,084 others.

Douglas London, a retired officer of the US spy agency CIA, said the Palestinian resistance against Israel “is an idea as much as it is a physical, tangible group of people.”

“So for as much damage Israel might have inflicted on Hamas, it still has capability, resilience, funding and a long line of people most likely waiting to sign up and join after all the fighting and all the destruction and all the loss of life,” he added.

Hamas will challenge Israel ‘for years’; Hezbollah ‘tying down’ Tel Aviv: US assessment

A US intelligence assessment says Hamas is likely to pose a “lingering” challenge to the Israeli regime for years.

Last month, a US intelligence assessment questioned Israel’s ability to eliminate Hamas, saying the resistance group is likely to pose a challenge to the regime for years.

“Israel probably will face lingering armed resistance from Hamas for years to come, and the military will struggle to neutralize Hamas’s underground infrastructure,” the assessment read.

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