November 15, 2024:
Hamas, a militant and aggressive Palestinian terrorist militia, has been around since the 1980s. Hamas is a perennial loser in its battles with Israel. One exception was the October 2023 surprise attack that had three thousand armed Hamas members leave their Gaza hiding places and attack unprepared Israelis. Over a thousand Israelis and foreigners in the area for a music festival were killed. This was the largest number of Jews killed in a single incident since the World War II Nazi German efforts to eradicate all Jews.
Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank were long-time rivals for Palestinian leadership. Neither was able to overcome the other and form a united Palestinian government. That changed with the October 2023 attack where Hamas took the initiative but failed to overcome Fatah’s nominal government in the West Bank.
How many Palestinians belong to Hamas has always been a guessing game. October 2023 confirmed that there were at least three thousand active Hamas members. The problem is that Hamas recruiting is very informal, and effective. Any Palestinian can walk into a known Hamas location, which can be a café or some retail establishment, announce their willingness to join Hamas and offer, if necessary, to fight and die for the cause. Hamas will often hand the new recruit a weapon. These are usually AK-47 assault rifles and RPG rocket launchers. Both of these weapons are regularly featured in Arab language movies, TV shows and propaganda films. By the time Palestinian children are teenagers, they know all about these weapons and how to use them. If there is a crisis, the Palestinians on the Hamas membership list go to a location and get their rifle or rocket launcher.
This enables Palestinian leaders to call up a large number of armed members on short notice. More organized operations, like the October 2023 attack, required a lot of planning. Many of these Palestinian gunmen had received some specialist training, just in case. Hamas leaders did their work and then used the standard Hamas mobilization system to quickly organize a force of armed Hamas members from the local Palestinian population. Many of the Palestinian gunmen for the October 2023 attacks were not aware of a major attack until they were called out by their Hamas leaders. Some Hamas fighters had been assigned to get vehicles to take down fences and get Hamas gunmen somewhere fast.
Hamas turned pre-planned improvisation into a formidable tactic that caused a lot of Israeli casualties but ultimately failed when the better trained, armed and led IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) showed up, The IDF quickly killed a lot of the Hamas irregulars and the October 2023 offensive faded away.
Surviving Hamas members back in Gaza spent more time in the tunnel network they had built during more than a decade effort. Hamas used foreign aid sent by the United States and other nations to build and then rebuild their tunnel system under Gaza. Years of effort has produced hundreds of kilometers of tunnels. Many of the tunnels were wired for electricity. Power was obtained from above ground generators or simply by plugging into home or commercial business supplies. Many Palestinians made a career of working in and on the tunnels.
When the IDF recently set out to destroy the tunnel system they were shocked at how extensive it was and how resistant it was to attack. In some tunnels there were blast doors to protect against the IDF use of explosives to reach a blocked portion of a tunnel. The Israelis were also surprised at the comfortable quarters for Hamas personnel and leaders. There were tunnels equipped as administrative offices and others were meeting rooms or offices for senior Hamas leaders.
The Israelis soon realized that there was a Hamas town and military installation under Gaza, The IDF is, as of late 2024, still fighting their way through the Hamas tunnel network under Gaza. IDF troops were trained for house to house fighting and had to adapt those tactics for the underground battles in the tunnels.