Hamas Emerges From Tunnels Still Intact, Starts ‘Policing’ Gaza Again

Since the Gaza ceasefire deal took effect Sunday morning, there’s been clear evidence that Hamas is still intact and operating in various parts of the Gaza Strip even after some 470 days of war.

Among Prime Minister Netanyahu’s goals was the complete eradication of Hamas in the wake of the Oct.7 terror attack and taking of hostages. But Hamas commanders have been emerging from the tunnels and parading openly on streets as the ceasefire holds.

Over the past year-plus of fighting both the political leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh, and its Gaza commander, Yahya Sinwar, have been killed – so certainly Hamas has taken serious blows, but it still has many thousands of fighters ready to carry on.

“Hamas appears to be emerging from tunnels and rubble in Gaza to show that it never lost control of most of the area despite fifteen months of war,” The Jerusalem Post acknowledges in a fresh report. “While Hamas suffered many blows from the IDF, it was able to recruit new members, and it even kept trucks and vans ready to return to the streets and show its presence.”

“Videos purported to be from Gaza show the group in white pickup trucks driving around,” the report continues. “The videos show large groups of armed men waving to crowds or standing and sitting on vehicles that are parading them through the streets.

Additionally, “Hamas police, an arm of the terrorist group, are also reappearing. They have been around throughout the war, but their presence has not been as clearly felt in some areas.”

An Al Jazeera regional correspondent has also witnessed evidence of Hamas being organizationally intact:

What happened earlier in Gaza City’s Saraya Square is that the military wing of Hamas handed over three female Israeli captives in a scene that felt beyond imagination.

The military wing of Hamas – which has been engaging in battles with the Israeli occupation forces across many areas in the Gaza Strip – appeared today, organising the implementation of the deal and the exchange of the Israeli captives.

We saw crowds of Palestinians gathering in the area around the fighters of the military wing of Hamas, chanting for liberation and freedom.

So, apparently, despite the significant blows that the military wing of Hamas has endured, they appeared today as an organized force on the ground.

This could indicate that in the foreseeable future, they will still exist as a military force despite the Israeli claims that they managed to degrade their military capabilities and eradicate their military governance of the territory.

Gaza emerges from ceasefire with HAMAS still in control https://t.co/CyDEL512Yd The futility of this War is evident for both sides. The Oslo accords are buried within the decimated landscapes of Gaza. The peace makers are silent or dead, while Israel drifts into the wilderness

— Derek (Del) Pickard (@DelPickard) January 20, 2025

Israeli society is witnessing this too, and it is likely creating some dissonance. After all, if the Israeli military has been engaged in a lengthy, full and systematic air and ground campaign in Gaza – and Netanyahu government leaders have faced skepticism in claiming they can finally destroy Hamas.

But the US experience in Iraq and Afghanistan has already demonstrated that an Islamist insurgency is extremely hard to fully root out. This trend is also now on display in Gaza as Hamas militants appear in public.

Below are some further updates on the last 24 hours via Al Jazeera:

• A Red Cross delegation is in Ofer Prison, verifying the identity of the 90 Palestinian prisoners set to be released tonight.
• Hamas handed three Israeli captives to the Red Cross, which transferred them to Israeli forces who took them out of the Gaza Strip.
• Hamas’s military spokesperson, Abu Obeida, has given a televised speech, saying that Hamas is committed to the ceasefire deal, which he said could have been reached over a year ago if it had not been for Netanyahu’s “malicious ambitions”.
• Gaza’s Interior Ministry says in a statement that local security forces were reintroduced to the main streets of Gaza following the start of the ceasefire agreement today.