All about the "warriors" akira idolize.. and why the Palestinians are not ready
for self governance until Hamas is destroyed..
Early this summer, Amin Abed, a Palestinian activist who has spoken out publicly
about Hamas, twice found bullets on his doorstep in northern Gaza.
Then in July, he said he was attacked by Hamas security operatives, who covered
his head and dragged him away before repeatedly striking him with hammers and
metal bars.
“At any moment, I can be killed by the Israeli occupation, but I can face the same
fate at the hands of those who’ve been ruling us for 17 years,” he said in a phone
interview from his hospital bed, referring to Hamas. “They almost killed me, those
killers and criminals.”
Mr. Abed, who remains hospitalized, was rescued by bystanders who witnessed
the attack, but what happened to him has happened to others throughout Gaza.
The bodies of six Israeli hostages recovered last month provided a visceral
reminder of Hamas’s brutality. Each had been shot in the head. Some had other
bullet wounds, suggesting they were shot while trying to escape, according to
Israeli officials who reviewed the autopsy results.
But Hamas also uses violence to maintain its control over Gaza’s population.
Some Palestinians have been injured or killed as Hamas wages an insurgent style
of warfare that risks Palestinian lives to strike the Israeli military from densely
populated areas. Others have been attacked or threatened for criticizing the
group. Some Palestinians have been shot, accused of looting or hoarding aid.
Much international attention has focused on Israeli hurdles to delivering aid to
Palestinians, its military operations that have killed tens of thousands of people
and a bombing campaign that has reduced cities to rubble. American officials
have repeatedly expressed deep frustration with Israel for those failures, too, as
well as for not providing basic security in the territory.
But the reality of the war, according to U.S. officials, is that the Israeli military and
Hamas carry out questionable acts nearly every day. Many of the reports reviewed
by American intelligence analysts involve Israeli actions: military strikes that kill
large numbers of civilians, errant attacks on aid convoys or other deadly
incidents. But a large number of reports involve Hamas, both its acts of terrorism
against hostages and its abuses of Palestinians.
Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth, the head of the U.S. intelligence agency that
analyzes satellite imagery, compared the role of intelligence officials monitoring
Gaza to that of an umpire.
“We also have a responsibility to tell the whole story,” he said at a gathering of
reporters recently. “We certainly are enabling Israel to protect itself. But we are
also calling every ball and strike and balk and foul, and we’re doing so in a very
complete way.”
This article is based on interviews with more than three dozen U.S. and Israeli
officials, Hamas members and Palestinian residents of Gaza. Many of the officials
spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence
assessments. Many of the Palestinians spoke on the condition of anonymity
because they feared retaliation.
Since the attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, which killed 1,200 people, Israel’s aim has
been to “destroy Hamas.” In practice that means that the government of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to end the group’s hold on power in Gaza. But
after 11 months of war, U.S. officials say Hamas’s control has been loosened but
not broken.
Palestinians are quick to excoriate Israel for the deaths and destruction in Gaza.
But some Palestinians said in interviews that Hamas has put Gazans in Israel’s
cross hairs by launching attacks from neighborhoods, running tunnels under
apartment buildings and hiding hostages in city centers.
And Hamas is still able to inspire fear among the people it rules, despite the chaos
that has taken hold across the territory.
“There’s no international law that justifies Israel killing civilians,” said Mkhaimar
Abusada, a professor of political science who fled Gaza early in the war. “But
Hamas has acted recklessly.”
Putting Civilians in the Line of Fire
Hamas’s practice of operating from civilian areas of Gaza has drawn sharp
criticism from Palestinians.
“Those launching rockets and firing bullets from civilian areas don’t care about
civilians,” said Abu Shaker, whose family has been repeatedly displaced. He asked
to be identified by his nickname. “If you want to fight Israel, you should go do
that. But why are you coming to hide among the civilians?”
At the beginning of the war, he said, militants fired rockets at Israel from the busy
towns of Deir al Balah and Nuseirat in central Gaza. Residents hurried indoors in
anticipation of retaliatory Israeli strikes.
It is notoriously difficult to assess public opinion in Gaza. Mobile phone networks
have been spotty. Polling is extremely complicated. Interviews are challenging to
conduct, especially during a war. And speaking out against Hamas is risky.
Still, Palestinians interviewed by The New York Times expressed frustration with
Hamas, particularly over its practice of embedding in civilian areas. The
Palestinians interviewed said that while Israel bore enormous responsibility for the
suffering the war has brought upon them, Hamas did too.
Hamas built access points to its extensive tunnel network inside homes. An aerial
photo recovered by the Israeli military from a Hamas commander’s post shows
three dozen hidden tunnel entrances marked with color-coded dots and arrows in
one crowded neighborhood.
To some Palestinians, an Israeli airstrike on July 13 targeting the senior military
commander Muhammad Deif and another Hamas military leader is an example of
the perils civilians face.
Israeli officials say that Mr. Deif had entered a villa in a designated humanitarian
zone to meet with a Hamas commander who was hiding there. Some 70
Palestinians were killed in the assault, including many women and children,
according to the Gazan health ministry. Israel later declared Mr. Deif dead, but
Hamas has disputed the claim.
Munir al-Jaghoub, an official in the Fatah party in the West Bank, blasted Israel
for the deaths. But he also condemned Hamas.
“Any soldier who wants to bear arms is required to protect civilians, not to hide
among civilians,” he said in a televised interview.
Hamas officials rejected criticisms that the group put civilians in harm’s way and
suggestions that it should keep its fighters away from towns and cities.
“There’s no such thing as being outside residential areas in Gaza,” said Husam
Badran, a senior Hamas official. “These pretexts, primarily made by the Israeli
occupation army, are meaningless.”
‘Shut Him Up’
Palestinians who protest face the threat of immediate retaliation.
On Saturday, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate blasted the “policy of
intimidation and threat” facing some journalists in Gaza after a group of gunmen
stormed the home of Ehab Fasfous, a reporter and social media activist. While the
syndicate did not explicitly name Hamas, it left little doubt that it was behind the
raid on Mr. Fasfous’s home in the southern city of Khan Younis.
In its statement, the organization said it viewed the raid with “great severity” and
that journalists and their families should be protected.
“Journalists in Gaza are being constantly killed by Israel,” said Tahseen al-Astal,
the deputy head of the group. “When internal Palestinian parties go after them,
too, their work becomes impossible.”
Mr. Fasfous, a well-known critic of Hamas, has long been targeted by the group’s
general security service, a secret police force in Gaza that has conducted
surveillance on everyday Palestinians, according to Hamas documents obtained
by The Times.
Weeks before the start of the war, the unit recommended taking action to prevent
Mr. Fasfous from reporting as a journalist. “Defame him,” a file from August 2023
read, calling him one of Hamas’s “major haters.”
“We advise that closing in on him is necessary because he’s a negative person
who is full of hatred, and only brings forth the Strip’s shortcomings,” the file said.
In an interview with The Times in May, Mr. Fasfous said Hamas held critics in
contempt. “If you’re not with them, you become an atheist, an infidel and a
sinner,” he added.
Ismail Thawabteh, the director general of the Hamas-run government media
office, attempted to distance Hamas from the threats and violence waged against
Mr. Fasfous and Mr. Abed. Without citing any evidence, he suggested that the two
men were victims of personal disputes or street crime that he said had become
increasingly prevalent since the start of the war.
The Interior Ministry, Mr. Thawabteh said, has opened investigations into both
incidents.
Hamas has paid particularly close attention to journalists and activists who
criticize its rule on social networks and to Western news media, according to U.S.
officials and Palestinian analysts. But other Palestinians have also been
threatened and intimidated.
Earlier this year, Alaa al-Haddad, 28, an activist from Gaza City, began criticizing
Hamas as he watched the news with strangers at a shelter in Rafah. Soon after,
Mr. Haddad said that his uncle was approached by a member of Hamas. “Shut
him up,” Mr. Haddad said the man told his uncle.
“This is the story of the Palestinian people in Gaza,” said Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a
Palestinian American who is a fellow with the Atlantic Council. “The
powerlessness of being stuck between a ferocious Israeli war machine and a
nefarious Islamist group that operates among the civilians.”
While Hamas officials minimize criticisms of their conduct, they broadly argue
that the suffering of the Palestinian people is the cost for fighting against the
Israeli occupation of Gaza.
Hamas recognizes that “freedom doesn’t come for free,” said Salah al-Din al-
Awawdeh, a member of the group who spent time in prison with its current leader,
Yahya Sinwar.
“There is no liberation movement that has freed its people without paying a big
price in terms of civilians,” he said.
But some U.S. and Israeli officials said their intelligence assessments indicate that
Mr. Sinwar is more interested in inflicting pain on Israel than uplifting the
Palestinian people.
“He’s not calculating the impact on human beings or property,” said Ted Singer, a
recently retired senior C.I.A. official who worked extensively in the Middle East.
“He is calculating on bringing the Israelis down a notch and freeing Palestinian
prisoners.”
‘It Was Horrific’
Hamas also hides hostages among Palestinian civilians, with devastating
consequences.
In early June, Israel planned a mission to rescue four of the dozens of living
hostages who remain in Gaza. But civilians in the densely populated Nuseirat area
proved a complicating factor.
The Israelis sent in rescue vehicles on June 8, and when one was damaged,
Hamas militants moved in on it. A firefight broke out, and commandos called in
the Israeli air force, which began striking the neighborhood.
The hostages were ultimately rescued. But more than 270 Palestinians were killed,
according to the Gazan health ministry, though it has proved impossible to
determine with certainty how many were Hamas fighters and how many were
residents or innocent bystanders.
Many Palestinians are angry at Israel for conducting the raid. But others said they
knew that Israel would try to rescue its people, no matter the toll.
“I’m totally against mixing prisoners and civilians,” said Kareem, a lawyer who
spoke on the condition that only his first name be used to avoid retribution from
the Hamas authorities. “We saw what the operation resulted in. It was horrific. A
very high price.”
According to Israeli and American officials, intelligence intercepts show that
Hamas leaders have ordered their fighters to kill hostages if it appeared that
Israeli troops were moving in and could potentially rescue them. Earlier this
month, Abu Obeida, the spokesman of Hamas’s military wing, suggested that
militants had been given such orders.
Israeli officials said they believed that was what happened last month. On Aug. 29
or 30, according to an Israeli intelligence assessment, Hamas militants holding six
hostages in the tunnels below the Tel Sultan area of Gaza detected an Israeli
military patrol above them. Israeli military officials said they believed that Hamas
scouts or a camera revealed the Israeli soldiers’ movements.
Acting on the standing orders not to allow hostages to be liberated, the militants
executed their captives and fled the tunnel, according to Israeli officials. The
soldiers above ground continued their patrol, not knowing they had come close to
the hostages.
The Israeli military said that the entrance to the tunnel was located inside a child’s
bedroom.
“A military force doesn’t do” what Hamas did, said Jonathan R. Cohen, a former
U.S. ambassador to Egypt. “They’re a terrorist organization with a military
structure. That’s a terrifying thing.”
A Hold on Power
To break Hamas’s control of Gaza, Israeli officials say they need to destroy not
just its military power but also its ability to function as a government. Critics of
Israel have questioned that strategy, which they say hurts ordinary Palestinians.
But nearly a year into the war, the civilian government still functions.
Mr. Thawabteh, the director general of the Hamas-run government media office,
said the government still employs thousands of people, helps distribute aid and
organizes Friday prayers. Security services continue to try to enforce the law, he
added.
Government-run emergency committees help secure aid and maintain order, Mr.
Thawabteh said.
“The government in Gaza is living through a time of challenges,” he said. “But it’s
still in place carrying out its duties every day.”
Hamas is not the only group active in Gaza. Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Hamas ally
that participated in the Oct. 7 terror attacks, remains strong. Armed gangs and
neighborhood committees operate throughout the territory, with some also
making threats and carrying out revenge attacks.
American officials say the groups operate with the implicit blessing of Hamas,
though its precise level of oversight and control of them varies from group to
group.
But Mr. Sinwar is the unchallenged leader of Gaza. While his day-to-day control of
the government is attenuated, as he tries to avoid being captured or killed by
Israel, he still sets the broad goals and policies for Gaza, according to officials
briefed on the intelligence.
Aid agencies trying to deliver humanitarian relief to Gaza acknowledge Hamas’s
continued control. Aid convoys must coordinate their efforts with local Hamas
leaders, or risk the aid not getting through.
Efforts to have Gazans who are aligned with the West Bank-based Palestinian
Authority help secure aid convoys have fallen apart. American officials say Hamas
hostility and threats on those convoys shut down the effort.
Looting has afflicted several Gazan cities after Israeli forces pulled out. Some of
the looters may have been hungry people trying to feed their families. Others may
have had more base motivations.
Israeli and American officials say Hamas has tried to stop the looting, but often
with brutal tactics.
In some instances, according to U.S. officials, people accused of looting have
been shot in the leg. In one incident, a group of Hamas members beat people
accused of stealing aid and spray-painted the word “thief” on the back of one of
them, according to the Israeli military.
To some Palestinians, the rough justice has added to a climate of fear.
Mr. Abed, 35, the Palestinian critic of Hamas who was beaten in July, was
attacked after writing on social media and speaking to news media, including The
New York Times, and believes that Hamas’s leaders want to make an example out
of him.
On Wednesday, Mr. Abed left Gaza for the first time in more than two decades,
one of dozens of wounded and ill people whom Israel permitted to travel to the
United Arab Emirates for treatment.
“I feel terrible that I’ve left our family and people behind, but at the same time, I
feel safe for the first time in 17 years,” he said in a voice message from his
hospital bed in Abu Dhabi. “There’s no one that wants to kill, arrest or follow me.”
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