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If Israel is ‘winning the war’ on Hamas, why are rockets falling? – comment

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It is too early for the Israeli people to declare victory in the Israel-Hamas war – or even to believe that winning is on the horizon.

ASSESSING THE damage after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit Kiryat Shmona, January 8, 2024.(photo credit: AYAL MARGOLIN/FLASH90)
Gun battles in Gaza, more than 50 rockets launched at Israel in one day, a terrorist attack in central Israel, and still Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and IDF top brass are boasting of winning the war.
It is too early for the Israeli people to declare victory in the Israel-Hamas war – or even to believe that winning is on the horizon.

Yet our leaders’ strongly worded and assuring statements have acted as a balm on Israeli public consciousness, despite the high IDF casualty count and the failure to secure the release of the remaining 136 hostages in captivity in Gaza.

As proof of public sentiment that success is on the horizon, earlier this week the Jewish People’s Policy Institute released a survey which revealed that showed nearly eight out of 10 Israelis (78%) believe that Israel will win the war.

When asked what victory looks like, 38% said that Gaza is no longer under Hamas control. Another 25% said that border area residents feel safe returning home. Fourteen percent said if the hostages return home.

SO, IS it almost over? Let’s examine the issues.

Hamas resilience:

While aerial photos of the Gaza Strip and reports by foreign media show that Israel has damaged or destroyed at least 70% of the buildings and infrastructure in Gaza, Hamas and its top leaders remain alive and well enough underground.

Moreover, despite Israel’s flattening of the Gaza skyline, the resilience of the remaining fighters and citizens appears high. They still have enough military power to launch rockets at Israel, and Hamas continues its unyielding ground fight, evident in the daily toll on our soldiers.

According to IDF reports, Hamas has experienced limited losses in terms of key military figures, with only three top military leaders out of 14, two brigade commanders, and 19 battalion commanders eliminated. The army is taking out around 10 to 20 terrorists a day, resulting in approximately 9,000 Palestinian fighters being neutralized since October 7, the IDF said earlier this week.

This figure contrasts with the overall death toll of around 24,000 in the enclave, reported by the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry.
Earlier this week, the spokesperson for Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, claimed that “the enemy’s announcements of imaginary achievements regarding rockets and tunnels are a subject of ridicule for us, and the day will come when we prove their falsehood.”

Finally, despite escalating famine and disease threats, the Gazan citizenry has refrained from rebelling against their terror government, a trend likely to persist if the polls prove accurate.

Hostage dilemma:

On Monday, Kibbutz Be’eri announced the death in captivity of two hostages connected to its community, adding to the list of around 20 Israeli hostages who have been reported dead with their bodies still in captivity.

With released Israelis’ testimonies and videos shared by Hamas – though possibly part of psychological warfare – it is probable that the lives of any remaining hostages are in jeopardy.

“The fate of many prisoners has become unknown during the past weeks,” Abu Obeida said in his Sunday statement. “Most likely, many prisoners were killed, and the enemy bears responsibility for their fate.”

Thus far, Israel has rescued only one hostage. Other individuals were released from Gaza during the hostage-prisoner exchange. Since then, Hamas has upped its ante to levels that Israel finds unacceptable.

Israeli media reported that MK Gadi Eisenkot told the war cabinet that Israel had to change tactics if it was to secure the release of the remaining hostages and that “time is running out.” Despite this, Gallant remains steadfast in advocating the continuation of military pressure.

“If the war ends now, the fate of the hostages will be sealed for many years – in Hamas captivity,” Gallant said Tuesday.

Border, sea escalations:

While Israel pounds Gaza, threats on the northern border by Hezbollah and in the Red Sea by the Houthis are escalating.
This week, a Hezbollah missile killed a mother and her son in Moshav Kfar Yuval. While Israel continues to exchange fire with Lebanon, more than 100,000 residents of the area remain displaced from their homes.

At sea, the Houthis have said ships will continue to be targeted until the attacks on Gaza stop – even if the United States and Britain get involved.

“The Yemeni armed forces will continue to prevent Israeli navigation or those associated with the Israeli enemy in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea until the aggression is stopped and the siege on the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted,” the military spokesperson for the Houthis, Yahya Saree, said Tuesday.

West Bank turmoil: The situation in the West Bank is also unstable, with the IDF operating at unprecedented levels since the start of the war, and public sentiment appearing increasingly supportive of Hamas among the local population.

“In Judea and Samaria, we operate around the clock in the communities and along the axes,” the IDF said in a statement over the weekend. “During the war, we conducted an unprecedented number of offensive activities and apprehended terrorists, some of whom were on their way to commit terror attacks.”

Since October 7, the IDF has apprehended close to 2,700 wanted Palestinians in the West Bank, with over 1,300 of them having affiliations with Hamas.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization equated the situation in the West Bank with that of Gaza, saying that “as Israel committed massacres in the Gaza Strip throughout 100 days of war, it continues its attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.

“Through repeated raids and attacks, Israel is hoping people will leave voluntarily,” Wasel Abu Yousef said.

Terror in Ra’anana:

This week marked the first internal terror attack outside Jerusalem since the onset of the war. Two West Bank Palestinians, in Israel illegally, initiated the assault, which involved stabbing Israeli civilians and executing a car-ramming attack in the central city of Ra’anana, according to the Israel Police and several witnesses.

The attack left one older woman dead and more than a dozen wounded, some severely. It also rocked the affluent city, to where many American immigrants moved after making aliyah.

Global backlash:

World opinion broadly condemns Israel’s efforts to defend itself against the Hamas terrorist regime, with widespread protests on streets and college campuses. Furthermore, Israel is being forced to defend itself in the International Court of Justice against South Africa’s allegations that it is committing genocide against the Palestinians.

Flattening buildings, destroying tunnels, and killing Arab terrorists are short-term markers in a field with an unknown and possibly unachievable end goal. The people deserve to be given an accurate timeline by their leaders and a comprehensive understanding of what might be at stake if Israel intends to fulfill the mission it declared on October 7.

The writer is deputy CEO – strategy and innovation for The Jerusalem Post and a senior correspondent. She also co-hosts the Inside Israeli Innovation podcast.

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US says blast near Yemen UNESCO world heritage site caused by Houthi missile

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Dust rises from the site of strikes in Sanaa, Yemen March 15, 2025(photo credit: REUTERS/KHALED ABDULLAH)

The Houthi-run health ministry said a dozen people were killed in the US strike in a neighborhood of Sanaa.

The US military said on Thursday a blast on Sunday near a UNESCO world heritage site in Yemen’s capital city of Sanaa was caused by a Houthi missile and not an American airstrike.

The Houthi-run health ministry said a dozen people were killed in the US strike in a neighborhood of Sanaa. The Old City of Sanaa is a recognized UNESCO World Heritage Site.

President Donald Trump ordered the intensification of US strikes on Yemen last month, with his administration saying they will continue assaulting Iran-backed Houthi rebels until they stop attacking Red Sea shipping.

Damage caused by a Houthi missile
A US Central Command spokesperson said the damage and casualties described by Yemen’s Houthi officials “likely did occur” but they were not caused by a US attack. The closest US strike that night was more than three miles (5 km) away, the spokesperson said.

US strike on Houthi targets against backdrop of American flag (illustration). (credit: Photo by Handout/Houthi Media Center via Getty Images, pixelshot/canva)


The US military assessed that the damage was caused by a “Houthi air defense missile” based on a review of “local reporting, including videos documenting Arabic writing on the missile’s fragments at the market,” the spokesperson said, adding the Houthis subsequently arrested Yemenis. He did not provide evidence.

A Houthi official was quoted by the New York Times as saying the American denial was an attempt to smear the Houthis.

Recent US strikes have killed dozens, including 74 at an oil terminal on Thursday in what was the deadliest strike in Yemen under Trump so far, according to the local health ministry.

The US military says the strikes aim to cut off the Houthi terrorist group’s military and economic capabilities.
Rights advocates have raised concerns about civilian killings and three Democratic senators, including Senator Chris Van Hollen, wrote to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth on Thursday demanding accounting for loss of civilian lives.

The Houthis have taken control of swathes of Yemen over the past decade.

Since November 2023, they have launched drone and missile attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, saying they were targeting ships linked to Israel.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023, when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages.

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Abbas calls Hamas ‘sons of dogs’ and demands release of Gaza hostages

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Mahmoud Abbas

Mahmoud Abbas told a meeting in Ramallah that Hamas had given Israel “excuses” to continue the Gaza war

Mahmoud Abbas has called Hamas “sons of dogs” in a fiery speech in which he demanded the group release the hostages it is still holding, disarm, and hand over control of Gaza in order to end the war with Israel.

The president of the Palestinian Authority told a meeting in the occupied West Bank that Hamas had given Israel “excuses” to continue its attacks on Gaza, and told it to “release the hostages and be done with it”.

The remarks were the strongest against the group that the president has delivered since the war began 18 months ago.

A Hamas official condemned what he called Abbas’s “derogatory language” towards “a significant proportion… of his own people”.

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Last week, the group rejected an Israeli proposal for a new ceasefire in Gaza, which included a demand to disarm in return for a six-week pause in hostilities and the release of 10 of the 59 remaining hostages.

Hamas reiterated that it would hand over all of the hostages in exchange for an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal. It also ruled out giving up its weapons.

The PA, which is led by Abbas and dominated by his Fatah movement, has only governed parts of the West Bank since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, a year after it won legislative elections.

The PA’s leadership has regularly insisted it is ready to take over running post-war Gaza. But it has been criticised by Palestinians for not speaking out enough or taking effective action.

Abbas lashed out at Hamas in furious speech to a meeting of the Palestinian Central Council in Ramallah.

“Hamas has given the criminal occupation [Israel] excuses to commit its crimes in the Gaza Strip, the most prominent being the holding of hostages,” he said.

“Sons of dogs, just release whoever you’re holding and be done with it. Shut down their excuses and spare us.”

The president also said Hamas must “hand over” responsibility for Gaza and its weapons to the PA, and transform into a political party.

A member of Hamas’s political bureau, Bassem Naim, criticised Abbas’s decision to “describe a significant and integral part of his own people using derogatory language”, according to AFP news agency.

“Abbas repeatedly and suspiciously lays the blame for the crimes of the occupation and its ongoing aggression on our people,” he added.

Hamas and the PA have been bitterly divided for decades, with their rift ensuring that no unified Palestinian leadership in both the West Bank and Gaza has been able to emerge.

Abbas, 89, is seen as an irrelevance by many Palestinians.

He has remained in power without election for many years, presiding over a PA that is seen by its critics as ineffective at best and corrupt at worst. Hamas has essentially accused it of collaborating with Israel.

In a separate development on Wednesday, Hamas’s military wing released a video showing the Israel-Hungarian hostage Omri Miran, 48, in an underground tunnel.

“On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, when we say ‘Never Again,’ an Israeli citizen cries out for help from Hamas’ tunnels. It is a moral failure for the State of Israel,” his family said in a statement.

Reuters

First responders said they recovered 10 bodies following an overnight Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City

Israel started blocking all deliveries of humanitarian aid and commercial supplies to Gaza on 2 March and resumed its offensive two weeks later, saying that the pressure would force Hamas to release the remaining hostages.

Since then, at least 1,928 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

On Tuesday night, 10 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a school in the north-eastern Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City that was being used as a shelter for displaced families, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency.

A woman who was living at the school with her husband, children and grandchildren said they were asleep when the attack happened.

“We woke up to fire surrounding us from all sides. My daughters suffered burns on their hands and legs. One of the women with us was taken to the hospital, but we still don’t know what her condition is,” she told BBC Arabic’s Gaza Lifeline programme. “Several young people were burned alive.”

“This war has dragged on for nearly two years now. And what has it brought us? Just more death, more suffering,” she added.

The Civil Defence said its first responders also recovered another four bodies from attacks on two homes in the same area.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it struck “a gathering of terrorists operating within a Hamas and [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad command and control centre” in the area of the school.

It accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields – an allegation that the group has repeatedly denied.

The UN meanwhile warned that the 52-day Israeli blockade had deprived Gaza’s 2.1 million population of “the basic necessities for human survival”. It has reported a rise in malnutrition and severe shortages of medicines at hospitals.

On Wednesday, the foreign ministers of the UK, France and Germany called on Israel to end the blockade, saying it was “intolerable”.

“We urge Israel to immediately restart a rapid and unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza in order to meet the needs of all civilians,” said a joint statement.

They also described as “unacceptable” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz’s “recent comments politicising humanitarian aid and Israeli plans to remain in Gaza after the war”, adding that Israel was bound under international law to allow aid deliveries.

The Israeli foreign ministry rejected the allegation that aid was being politicised.

It also insisted that the country was acting in full accordance with international law and that there was “no shortage of aid in Gaza” because 25,000 aid lorries had entered during the recent two-month ceasefire.

“Israel is fighting Hamas, which steals humanitarian aid, uses it to rebuild its war machine, and hides behind civilians,” a statement said.

“Hamas started this war, and Hamas is responsible for its continuation and for the suffering of both Palestinians and Israelis. The war can end tomorrow if the hostages are released and Hamas lays down its weapons,” it added.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 51,300 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.

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