GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War Day 641

More Fake News

In Shambles

News is coming out that Hamas is a mere shadow of what it once was as we’re told in a report from The Jerusalem Post:

Hamas has reportedly lost about 80% of its control over Gaza, a senior official from the terrorist organization told the BBC. The official explained that Hamas’s command and control infrastructure had collapsed after months of Israeli airstrikes, which wiped out its political, military, and security leadership.

The source paints a bleak picture of things:

“Let’s be realistic here – there’s barely anything left of the security structure. Most of the leadership, about 95%, are now dead... The active figures have all been killed,” he said in the interview published Sunday.

They make is sound as if Hamas in on the edge of defeat:

“Logically, it has to continue until the end,” the Hamas official said. “All the conditions are aligned: Israel has the upper hand, the world is silent, the Arab regimes are silent, criminal gangs are everywhere, and society is collapsing.

They continue with their rather dour description of things:

“So, the security situation is zero. Hamas’s control is zero. There’s no leadership, no command, no communication. Salaries are delayed, and when they arrive, they are barely usable. Some die just trying to collect them. It’s total collapse.”

If all this is true then Israel should be putting the pedal to the medal and it sounds like they are:

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he and US President Donald Trump are determined to eliminate Hamas’s military capabilities, in addition to bringing the hostages home.

“We are still focused on the Gaza arena. We have also achieved great successes there, but there are still tasks to complete,” Netanyahu stated prior to his visit to Washington.

“We are also determined to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel. This means we will not allow a situation where there are more kidnappings, more killings, more beheadings, or more invasions. This means one thing: the destruction of Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities. Hamas will not be there.”

One person speaking for the Israel Defence Force (IDF) sees one area that is hurting Hamas:

In June, IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin stated that Hamas’s grip on Gaza was weakening as Israeli forces continued operations both above and below ground, The Jerusalem Post reported.

“Hamas is losing control. It continues to operate against its own civilians,” Defrin stated. He said the “distribution of food severely harms Hamas and its rule. Tens of thousands of meals are distributed daily to Gazans.”

The IDF has recently been operating near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food distribution sites in southern Gaza to prevent Hamas terrorists and local clans from taking control of the food, thereby allowing Palestinian civilians to safely receive aid.

Why Raise The White Flag?

This sudden admission of imminent defeat by Hamas has me questioning the timing of it. In another article from The Jerusalem Post we may see why:

The same day that ceasefire talks took place in Doha, a report emerged on the BBC that suggested Hamas had “lost control over most of Gaza.”

The timing of the report leads to questions. According to the report, “A senior officer in Hamas’s security forces has told the BBC the Palestinian armed group has lost about 80% of its control over the Gaza Strip and that armed clans are filling the void.”

It would seem that continuing ceasefire talks isn’t possible:

However, if Hamas has lost control why is it able to negotiate from a position of strength in Qatar and continue to hold onto demands it has made for the last year?

Hamas is a master at manipulation so it could be the leak was intentionally done:

The report said that the source of the claims is a “lieutenant-colonel” in Hamas’s “security forces.” Why would a high-ranking member of Hamas suddenly decide to leak these key details on the same day that ceasefire talks are ongoing?

The talks are aimed at presenting Hamas's proposals to continue its rule in Gaza. The report would seem to weaken the Hamas position. However, the report could also strengthen the view of some Israeli officials that Israel has won in Gaza. If Hamas says it has collapsed, why not take its word for it and end the war and claim victory? Could the Hamas officer thus be leaking details that Hamas wants to be leaked? The report said that the Hamas member said the group’s “command and control system had collapsed due to months of Israeli strikes that have devastated the group’s political, military and security leadership.”

And there are questions about the source and the actual information which doesn’t make sense:

The officer is presented as an anonymous source, and he left “voice messages” about the state of Hamas affairs. “The officer painted a picture of Hamas’s internal disintegration and the near-total collapse of security across Gaza, which the group governed before the conflict.”

The Hamas member claimed that 95% of Hamas leaders have been killed. “There’s barely anything left of the security structure.” How does Hamas continue to hold around 35%-40% of Gaza and rule over 2 million people?

Hamas also claimed it could deliver the hostages, according to reports of a possible deal. How can both things be true, that Hamas has no control, but controls 2 million people and the hostages?

So is this source telling the truth at all? There aren’t videos of it:

“Criminal gangs are everywhere, society is collapsing,” the source claimed. “About the security situation, let me be clear: it has completely collapsed. Totally gone. There’s no control anywhere,” he said.

How is this possible? If there was a complete breakdown, wouldn’t we see video of it and evidence? He claimed that people had looted a Hamas security headquarters. Wouldn’t there be a video of this?

The Hamas source told the BBC that gangs or armed clans were taking over. This would dovetail with reports that Israel has backed militias and gangs in Gaza. Therefore, if Hamas is defeated and falling apart, why doesn’t the IDF simply sweep Hamas aside now? Instead, Israel is considering a new ceasefire that would appear to preserve Hamas in power.

A Power Grab?

Could it be setting up a change in power? That could be a possibility:

The BBC report went on to claim that “six armed groups affiliated with powerful local clans have emerged as serious contenders to fill the void, according to the officer.” The report then mentioned Yasser Abu Shabab, who it says is backed by the Palestinian Authority. He is a militia leader who is also apparently accepted by Israel. “Israel confirmed last month that it was supplying him with weapons,” the BBC said. The report then portrayed this man as a potentially “unifying figure.”

Shabab is lifted up as an alternative to Hamas:

This then leads to the second part of the article. After the anonymous source said that Hamas had collapsed, the article explained that Abu Shabab is “working to coordinate with other armed groups to form a joint council aimed at toppling Hamas.”

The article then portrayed Abu Shabab as also in touch with Egypt and he “maintains good ties with Mohammad Dahlan’s camp.” Dahlan is a former Fatah leader of Gaza who fled in 2007 and has reportedly resided in the UAE over the years.

The article then mentions some contradictions in the details:

This article is interesting because it appears to do two things at once. It claims that Hamas is collapsing and seems to raise up Abu Shabab as a new face of the resistance against Hamas in Gaza. It portrays Shabab as linked to Egypt, the PA and Dahlan. Via Dahlan, one could then extrapolate that he is potentially backed by Gulf countries. However, at the same time, Hamas leaders in Doha are in talks about a ceasefire. How can both things be true at the same time? How can Hamas be collapsing but also in talks?

Signs point to another Hamas deception which is nothing new in my opinion:

Hamas doesn’t appear under pressure in the talks. Hamas seems to know that Israel won’t go into the remaining 35% of Gaza that Hamas controls. These are the central camps and Gaza City and Mawasi areas. Israel has never entered these areas during the war for fear of harming hostages. This gives Hamas an area to recuperate. Is there evidence that Hamas's rule in those areas has collapsed? So that, there is not. This raises questions about the motive of the source who spoke to the BBC and the motive of the article in portraying Abu Shabab as on the verge of apparently challenging Hamas for the rule of Gaza.

When I saw that the BBC was the source of the information alarm bells went on right away. They are a reliable source of pro-Hamas propaganda and I had a feeling their article was not accurate so I wondered if Hamas was up to something. As it turns out signs point to this being a way for these sneaky terrorists to deceive many into thinking Hamas is pretty much done so ending the fighting is the best thing that Israel can do. Accept a ceasefire and move on. A better strategy is to keep pounding them, move all Gazans to the Rafah area, control the humanitarian aid and then deal with the hostage situation by demanding Hamas agrees to surrender them and leave Gaza as part of any deal. Unfortunately I don’t see those last things happening via diplomacy. These terrorists are very stubborn and religiously blind to giving up power until it is forcibly taken from them. The only way to end their threat is to end them.