 "One year of October 7 attacks: How Hamas has been weakened but not eliminated")
Today marks one year since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. The surprise assault put West Asia on edge. Now the Jewish nation is not only fighting the Palestinian militant group but also Iran and its proxies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
During terror attacks, 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 250 were taken hostages – some have been rescued, some killed and the fate of many remains unknown. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to “eliminate” Hamas .
Over the past year, Israel has conducted extensive military operations in Gaza – it has destroyed thousands of buildings, including Hamas targets. The conflict has resulted in the death of 42,000 Palestinians and 726 Israeli soldiers.
But where does Hamas, the perpetrator of the attack, stand one year on? We analyse.
The Hamas leadership: Who is killed, who remains?
During a year since the terror attacks, Israel has eliminated several top Hamas leaders including the militant group’s military chief Mohammed Deif and its political leader Ismail Haniyeh .
Dief, one of the masterminds of the October 7 attacks, was killed on July 13 in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza’s Khan Younis, which destroyed several buildings. Around 90 people were killed in that attack.
The elusive commander had survived seven assassination attempts over two decades, of which two were during the conflict. The one-eyed leader was the head of Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, and a hardliner. He is said to have designed the Qassam rocket, the militant group’s signature weapon, and the infamous network of tunnels beneath Gaza.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsOne of the biggest political assassinations carried out since the conflict was that of Ismail Haniyeh. He was killed in the early hours of July 31 in Tehran, where he had attended the inauguration of Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian only a few hours ago.
The building – a state guesthouse – where Haniyeh was staying was hit by a missile directly. While Hamas has blamed Israel for the death of its political chief, the Jewish nation has not claimed responsibility. Haniyeh was one of the group’s most visible leaders during the war and was part of the ceasefire and hostage negotiations.
Saleh al-Arouri was a prominent leader of the Hamas’ political bureau and he also helped establish the Qassam Brigades. The 57-year-old was killed in an explosion on January 2 this year in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh. The attack was blamed on Israel.
Al-Arouri helped establish the presence of Hamas in the West Bank. He was the liaison between officials of the Palestinian group and Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Last week, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it killed three other senior Hamas leaders in Gaza. They were identified as Rawhi Mushtaha, who was the head of the Hamas government in Gaza, Sameh al-Siraj and Sami Oudeh, who were responsible for security in Hamas, according to the Israeli military, reports BBC.
Only a few big names remain. Yahya Sinwar continues to lead the group after the death of several senior commanders. One of the key architects of the 7 October attacks, he was appointed the political chief of the group in August after Haniyeh’s death. He now remains Israel’s enemy number one in Gaza.
Sinwar has been in hiding and there has been increased speculation about his whereabouts or if he is alive. According to a report in N12 news, Israel had an opportunity to eliminate him but did not go ahead fearing the safety of the hostages still held captive in Gaza. He has now reportedly gone underground and is not communicating with Qatari mediators.
People in contact with him say that he remains committed to Israel’s destruction. For the 62-year-old, an armed struggle remains the only way to force the creation of a Palestinian nation, four Palestinian officials and two sources from governments in West Asia were quoted as saying by Reuters.
The destruction in Hamas in Gaza
On October 8 last year, Israel started an intense bombardment of Gaza with a complete siege the following day. On October 27, the Israeli army launched its ground invasion of the enclave and on November 15, it laid siege to Al-Shfia , the largest in Gaza, accusing Hamas was using it as a military command post.
On December 5, its forces started an offensive around the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Apart from the top leaders, the IDF said that it killed eight Gaza militant brigade commanders, about 30 battalion commanders and 165 company commanders over the past year.
More than 40,000 targets were bombed in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military also found 4,700 tunnel shafts and destroyed 1,000 rocket launcher sites.
In the past year, around 60 per cent of Gaza has been damaged or destroyed, according to an analysis of satellite data conducted by Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University and Corey Scher of CUNY Graduate Center, reports Axios. This includes houses, road networks, and hospitals.
While Israel has eliminated Hamas militants, hundreds and thousands of Gazans have become victims of the conflict. More than 41,600 Palestinians have been killed in the past year, including 1,300 children and nearly 6,300 women, according to the health ministry. About 90 per cent of Gaza’s population has been forcibly displaced, according to a UN agency.
The strength of Hamas today
Hamas has been weakened but it has not been vanquished. The group boasted 25,000 to 30,000 fighters of which IDF claims to have killed 17,000. However, reports identify around 8,500, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED ), a non-profit organisation specialising in conflict data. The group continues to recruit new members and it may still have as many as half the fighters before the conflict began.
Hamas’ capabilities have been hit but it takes on IDF often using guerilla warfare tactics, ambushing Israeli soldiers with explosives, the report says. Since the ground offensive in Rafah in May, the group resorted to such attacks in close to 160 instances, the ACLED report claims.
The militant group’s armed activity in the West Bank has gone up. It was involved in 130 violent incidents in the last year, which is a 135 per cent increase from the 12 months before.
Meanwhile, Sinwar’s grip on Gaza remains unwavering even amid signs of dissent among locals. He along with his brother, who is a top commander, operate from the shadows of the network of tunnels.
Sinwar has drawn Iran and its entire “Axis of Resistance” , comprising Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and Iraqi militias, into conflict with Israel, Hassan Hassan, an author and researcher on Islamic groups, told Reuters. “We’re seeing now the ripple effects of October 7. Sinwar’s gamble didn’t work," he added.
But Hamas continues to fight its more powerful opponent, Israel. It’s not eliminated yet as Netanyahu has vowed.
With inputs from agencies
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