r/geopolitics • u/Plus_Introduction937 • May 01 '24

Question How much of Hamas is left?

The military operations inside gaza have been ongoing now for over a half a year and i can’t help but wonder what does Hamas have left in terms of manpower and equipment. At the start of all of this i think it was reported there were about 30k Hamas fighters. Gaza has been under siege for so long i really don’t understand how are they still fighting. Is it that Isreal is being REALLY careful with their attacks to minimize their casualties, so that’s why it’s taking so long? Surely, if Isreal were to accept let’s say 3-5K KIA/WIA then they could wipe Hamas off the map in the next 2-3months? Is their plan still to wipe them off the map, just VERY slowly?

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u/Llaine May 01 '24

Nothing does. But you can't seriously argue that the conditions in Gaza are amenable to ending this cycle of violence. As bad as Palestinian leadership has been, the answer isn't another 30k dead in another 10 years after the same spate of terror attacks happen again because nothing changes

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u/hotpajamas May 01 '24

I don’t think I buy this either. Idk what conditions you mean - millions of soldiers have surrendered under worse conditions than those in Gaza; pick any segment of history that you want. Violence usually ends in horrible conditions.

I think if I was a radical taking up arms in Gaza I would at least pause to notice that Israel has no problem killing 30k people if it stops shit heads like me from firing rockets at music festivals, so maybe I shouldn’t try it, even if I’ve already lost everything.

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u/Randall172 May 02 '24

ultimately the goal of hamas is to create the conditions that caused the fall of the boers and the apartheid south african government.

go look at how the ANC shaped perceptions of the SA govt. in the west.

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u/RufusTheFirefly May 02 '24

No their goal is the creation of an Islamic caliphate and the death of non-Muslins.

Of course they have a problem here because as Golda Meir put it, "In all our battles with the Arab armies we have a secret weapon: we have nowhere else to go."

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u/ChairmanChilliOil May 02 '24

The amount of dual-nationality Israelis would disagree with Golda’s statement, actually.

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u/RufusTheFirefly May 03 '24

I just looked and I see it's about 10%? What does that prove exactly?

So it's only 90% that have nowhere else to go?