Analysis: The hidden picture in Gaza

[Fozzledick]

Dominant view in the Israeli defense establishment is that Hamas is managing conflict from a position of weakness, which has become more acute in recent days.

In recent days, Hamas members seized UN food coupons and prevented Gazan civilians from receiving the aid, in order to try and keep field cell members fed. The Islamist regime refuses to publish most of the names of its members who were killed fighting the IDF, and disposes of their bodies quickly, to avoid harming morale. It has tried to ban Gazan civilians from giving interviews to the foreign press during humanitarian truces.

The IDF has seen Hamas tunnel fighters surrender because they have run out of food. To be sure, this does not mean Hamas is near the breaking point.

Its terrorist army is composed of 15,000 trained members, and Hamas is mobilizing battalions from across Gaza to replace the hundreds of guerrillas killed in combat.

The dominant view in the Israeli defense establishment is that Hamas is managing the war from a position of weakness, which has become more acute in recent days. An audio recording of Hamas’s military wing commander, Muhammad Deif, released on Tuesday, is notable for what it lacked: Gone were previous conditions for a truce, such as the demand to set free terrorists whom Israel released in the Schalit deal and then took back into custody in the West Bank.

How did Hamas reach this point? It launched the current war because of its rapidly deteriorating situation as a regime in Gaza, and growing isolation since the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Analysis-The-hidden-picture-in-Gaza-369501