International newspapers and news sites focused, in their coverage of the war on the Gaza Strip, on what they considered Israel’s failure to “eliminate” the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and some newspapers cited as evidence what is happening to the occupation army in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.
Time magazine touched on what it said was the trend of European officials towards calling for a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, the change in the tone of the US administration towards Israel, and the increasing focus on the Israeli war on the Hamas movement.
The magazine wrote – based on experts – that “eliminating Hamas’ ideology is impossible even if Israel is able to eliminate the government in Gaza… Rather, this will result in a vacuum that must be filled.”
In the same context, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper wrote that “any announcement of the destruction of Hamas soon will be an illusion and divorced from reality,” and pointed out that the situation in Khan Yunis is different and more complex than what was the case in the northern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli newspaper adds, “The army teams operating there know that their time is limited at a time when important indicators are emerging that the Hamas leadership still controls the brigades operating in Khan Yunis.” According to the newspaper, Hamas has proven to be an endless army.
As for the Wall Street Journal, it touched on Hamas’ ability to build tunnels. Its article stated, “The specifications of the tunnel that the Israeli army talked about reveal the extent of the Hamas movement’s investment in building its own tunnel network and the extent of Israel’s lack of knowledge of its details.”
The newspaper adds that the size of the tunnel – which Israel says is close to a military base – raises “many questions about the number of other tunnels of the same size that Hamas was able to build near Israel without the knowledge of its army.”
The Israeli occupation army said earlier that it had uncovered what it described as a giant tunnel network that was managed by Muhammad al-Sinwar, brother of the leader of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, Yahya al-Sinwar.
Growing anxiety
On the other hand, in its editorial, Haaretz newspaper called on the Israeli government to place the return of detainees held by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza at the top of its agenda, and to work to reach an agreement to release them.
She wrote, “The killing of the hostages is a serious incident that requires immediate lessons to be drawn and a change in approach, whether with regard to the priority of the hostage deal or the nature of the fighting in the Gaza Strip.”
Another article from Haaretz dealt with the state of the Israeli economy, pointing to growing concern among decision-makers in Israel about increasing government spending to finance the war in Gaza and compensate those affected by the attacks of last October 7.