The war Hamas wants against Israel has ‘just begun’, says Middle East expert

The death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is likely to strengthen the years-long insurgency he launched against Israel, experts say, as the group changes its methods as its leadership is destroyed.

While Israel is waging a semi-traditional war against Hamas, it does not understand what kind of fight the group wants, namely “an unfinished insurgency on the ground against Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip,” Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow at the Arab Organization, CNN reported. Gulf Institute in Washington.

Hamas’ war has “just begun,” Ibish said, and it is already taking the form of “heterically organized Hamas cells of guerrillas and insurgents” that do not require an “integrated vertical command and control structure.”

He said the group would likely survive using low-quality and simple weapons, including pistols, small machine guns and even improvised explosive devices (IEDs). They can operate in difficult conditions and “their people are ready to die,” Ibish added.

Other countries fighting non-state groups have faced similar situations, Ibish said, including the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, the United States in Vietnam and even the Israelis themselves in 1982, when an invasion to oust the Palestine Liberation Organization from Beirut only created a more powerful Hezbollah.

Frank Lowenstein, a former US special envoy for Middle East peace during the Obama administration, said that while Israelis “understandably feel empowered by Sinwar’s death, no one should be under any illusion that Hamas has been defeated” because “there is” no way to kill an ideology.”

Lowenstein said Sinwar’s death creates a leadership vacuum in Gaza that, if not filled, would jeopardize any meaningful negotiations or agreement on a hostage ceasefire agreement that the U.S. considers critical.