Jubilant Hamas proves the job has not yet been done

Shocking images of Palestinian crowds cheering uniformed Hamas gunmen strutting brazenly through Gaza’s streets – clutching Kalashnikov assault rifles and praising Allah – following Monday’s release of the first hostages are a sobering reminder of the heavy price of negotiating with terrorists. It was, of course, always going to be that the nihilistic perpetrators of the depraved October 7, 2023, mass slaughter of 1200 Jews would claim victory after any ceasefire deal. That they and their Iranian masters are doing so now does not diminish in the slightest the absolute priority rightly given to recovering the hostages.

But the grim warning in what The Jerusalem Post’s senior Middle East analyst, Seth Frantzman, reported on Monday is the speed with which Hamas “appears to be emerging from tunnels and rubble in Gaza to show that it never lost control of most of the area despite 15 months of war” should leave no doubt anywhere that Gaza remains unfinished, unavoidable business in the global war against terrorism. Frantzman’s conclusion is that, despite “many blows” delivered by the Israel Defence Forces, “Hamas (still) has impressive control over every aspect of Gaza, from local media to hospitals and schools … it will galvanise all this to help portray (the ceasefire) as a victory for the group”. This must be seen for the vital challenge it is, not only for Israel but also the rest of the civilised world.

It may be that, with the fragile ceasefire in place and the jihadist thugs with their bloodstained hands parading in the streets, Israel has not yet achieved its main aim of destroying Hamas. Agreeing to a ceasefire was what the world, including the Albanese government, was demanding of Israel.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is right when he insists, as he did on Monday, that the goal of “total victory” over Hamas remains unchanged despite the ceasefire and will be delivered. So is Donald Trump’s new National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, who pledged full US support for Israel in “doing what it has to do” if Hamas reneges in any way on the ceasefire deal and its promise to release the hostages. Global security demands no less.

Despite Israel’s firepower and tactical dominance in every battle in Gaza, it is hardly a surprise that it has struggled to eliminate Hamas completely or to break its control over the Gazan population. For 15 months Hamas has been able to callously use the hapless population of two million people as human shields to forestall Israel’s strategy. So, too, with the precarious situation of the hostages being held by the terrorists.

Hamas forces have regrouped in one city after another as Israeli forces pummelled them, then moved on. By the start of 2025, Israeli troops had cleared Hamas out of some neighbourhoods three times, only to see the jihadists return. Israel has had to fight a war (one it did not start) with more than just one arm tied behind its back.

Yet, despite that, there can be no doubt – notwithstanding the exotic claims of the Hamas-Iranian propaganda machine and its support base in countries across the world – that Hamas has been greatly degraded in the war. It has lost thousands of fighters and most of its senior commanders. They make up a large part of the 47,000 deaths claimed by the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry, but they are never identified as such. In military terms, Hamas claiming a win with the ceasefire and freeing of some hostages is clearly nonsense. But it has reached its own goal of surviving the onslaught. Hence the insufferable, chest-thumping parade by its terrorist fighters on the streets of Gaza. They live to fight another day, and that is the dispiriting prospect that faces Israel and the rest of the civilised world.

The strategic gains from the war are almost all on Israel’s side. The Jewish state has emerged stronger from its longest war, having cut several of its adversaries, including Hamas and Hezbollah, down to size. But the terrorists emerging from the tunnels and rubble should serve as a reminder of the unfinished business that confronts Israel and the rest of the civilised world.

The challenge is to prevent the terrorist group’s regeneration as a political force led by thousands of young new recruits radicalised by the destruction of their homes and deaths of their families. It is, too, to establish a new political authority that can displace Hamas and bring peace to Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas’s brazen re-emergence on the streets of Gaza, clutching Kalashnikovs, could not be more dispiriting.