Hamas Commander Reappears, Claims Victory in Gaza
A commander of Hamas fighters, believed to have been killed in May, has reappeared in a video speaking about the success of Hamas in Gaza. Hussein Fiad, commander of the Beit Hanun battalion, emerged in a video on Wednesday, sporting a short beard and standing with several men.
Fiad claimed that Israel had not achieved its goals in Gaza, saying that when one doesn’t achieve their goals, they lose. He implied that Hamas had won simply by not losing, citing the “strong one loses when he doesn’t win” strategy.
The reappearance of Fiad is seen as a symbol of the challenge Israel faced in Gaza, as Hamas had no clear strategy of its own but was able to wait out the conflict and continue to run the area. Fiad’s return is an example of the problem the IDF faced in Gaza, as Hamas fighters were able to hide in rubble and wait out the conflict.
The IDF claimed to have eliminated Fiad last May, stating that he was the commander of the Beit Hanun Battalion and had been killed in Jabalya. However, the recent video appears to be authentic and shows Fiad speaking about Hamas’s success in Gaza.
Fiad’s reappearance highlights the difficulty Israel faced in Gaza, as it had no clear strategy and was unable to remove Hamas completely from the area. Hamas’s strategy of hiding in rubble and waiting out the conflict proved successful, and the group continues to run Gaza despite suffering thousands of casualties.
The challenge for Israel is to come up with an effective counterstrategy to confront Hamas’s strategy of not losing, rather than winning.