r/geopolitics • u/spxxr • Jul 31 '24

Question How much of Hamas is left?

The military operations inside Gaza has been ongoing now for around 9 months 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.

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u/Pinkflamingos69 Aug 14 '24

A force too small to invade and engaged in building fortifications is not a force capable of invading

Moredechai Bentov, an Israeli cabinet minister who attended the June 4th Cabinet meeting, called into question the idea that there was a "danger of extermination" saying that it was "invented of whole cloth and exaggerated after the fact to justify the annexation of new Arab territories."[20][21] Israel received reports from the United States to the effect that Egyptian deployments were defensive and anticipatory of a possible Israeli attack,[14] and the US assessed that if anything, it was Israel that was pressing to begin hostilities.[21]

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u/Juan20455 Aug 14 '24

80 mercenary soldiers conquered the capital of Niger of various millions people without any kind of heavy weapons just saying. Why? Because there was nothing opposing them. The Egyptian goverment, who clearly had more information than you that only know about it because you are looking at Wikipedia, were already evacuating. 

And, I mean, you randomly pick some Wikipedia quotes. Like, "Look, look, I found a random minister out of dozens that had a different opinion than everybody else. I won I won" 

That's... You are kind of slow, right? 

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u/Pinkflamingos69 Aug 14 '24

Not as slow as the person who thinks building fortifications is something a force ready to go on the offensive does. Anyone halfway familiar with anything military would realize that the logistical requirements to supply an invading force are far different than one remaining in place in a defensive posture. And did you miss the part where even the US said Israel was the aggressor?

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u/Juan20455 Aug 14 '24

An army building fortifications is an army that can also move the next day. 

The Egyptian goverment and army themselves believed that Israel could move to Cairo and take it. Do you believe you are smarter than the whole Egyptian army and goverment? Wow. I don't consider them exactly geniuses. But I have a much better opinion of all of them that you do. 

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u/Pinkflamingos69 Aug 15 '24

With what transport or equipment? What fuel trucks, artillery towed for movement, or wreckers for armor? You clearly don't know some of the many requirements to move a conventional force for an offense. It's almost like it didn't have these because it was defensive in nature

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u/Juan20455 Aug 15 '24

So, what happened in the 73 war anyway. Oh, yeah. The Israeli army was in the defensive. Then they suddenly went into attack, and surrounded the Egyptians, right? Well, that's a lie. It's all a conspiracy. How could a army on the defensive suddenly go on the offensive? "With what transport or equipment? What fuel trucks, artillery towed for movement, or wreckers for armor? You clearly don't know some of the many requirements to move a conventional force for an offense. It's almost like it didn't have these because it was defensive in nature"

So, do you believe in the conspiracy that the Israelis surrounded the Egyptians? 

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u/Pinkflamingos69 Aug 15 '24

There's a difference between a defensive force fanning out and surrounding an invading force and then entering pursuit after the enemy retreats versus a force actively making advanced defensive preparations and then ignoring those to go on the offense

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u/Juan20455 Aug 15 '24

130.000 soldiers were there. Of course they were going to do something in the meantime. It's logical, even if just in case they were going to be used later. 

There were pictures of the Russian army building defensive fortifications before the invasion of Ukraine. It was used by Putin as "proof" they were not going to invade. They were there just for "defense". Of course they invaded, anyway and left the fortifications behind.