Hamas and the IDF stop shooting at each other….
Hamas forces move to provide security badly needed in Gaza….
Israeli efforts to completely get rid of them seem to have failed…..
Trump in talking to the Suadi’s will be under pressue to resume Biden’s efforts to keep the cease-fire going and keep Israel from resuming attacks…
Israeli troops have pulled back to the edges of Gaza, the first hostages have been released and many Palestinians have returned to what remains of their homes in the first few days of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.
If it goes according to plan, there will be no fighting in Gaza for at least six weeks, and dozens of Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be freed, while more aid flows in.
The question is if the ceasefire will survive beyond the first phase — and an appendix to the deal provided to The Associated Press reveals some of the tensions in it.
Extending the ceasefire depends on even more negotiations meant to begin soon and eventually tackling the tough issue of how Gaza will be governed, with Israel still demanding the elimination of Hamas. Hanging over those talks is the possibility Israel could resume its campaign to destroy the militant group — even as dozens of hostages remain in its hands…
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Hamas IS STILL around in Gaza….
The Israeli effort to extinsh it has NOT worked completely…
The morning the cease-fire in Gaza went into effect, masked members of Hamas’s military wing drove through the streets of Gaza in clean, white pickups, carrying Hamas flags and automatic rifles.
The militants were also carrying an unambiguous message: However weakened, Hamas survived Israel’s 15-month bombing campaign in Gaza and remains the most powerful Palestinian party in the territory.
Since the cease-fire started on Sunday, Hamas has been working overtime in an attempt to show it still controls Gaza, even after Israel killed thousands of its members and demolished its tunnels and weapons factories in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack that killed an estimated 1,200 people.
Throughout the war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas, but he never offered a plan for a realistic alternative that could take control of Gaza, leaving behind a vacuum that the armed group filled.
Even for many residents of Gaza, however, the swift re-emergence of the fighters, some in official uniforms, was a surprise.
“They came out of hiding in a snap of a finger,” said Mohammed, 24, who requested his last name be withheld to avoid possible retribution from Hamas. “We had no idea where these people were during the war.”
Later on the first day of the cease-fire, dozens of Hamas militants turned up at Saraya Square in Gaza City to hand over three hostages to the Red Cross for release to Israel, the first of 33 to be freed as part of the deal. The appearance of the militants didn’t suggest they were on their last legs: They appeared to be wearing clean uniforms, in good shape and driving decent cars….
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Since the cease-fire, Hamas’s government has attempted to impose some sense of security, sending police forces to the streets, directing traffic, protecting aid trucks and offering a degree of law and order, residents say.
On Monday in Gaza City, a senior official in the Hamas-run Interior Ministry identified as Gen. Mahmoud Abu Watfa toured the city center in plain clothes as Gazan journalists took pictures of armed internal security forces participating in a procession…
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“Hamas is much weaker than it was before Oct. 7,” said Michael Milshtein, a former military intelligence analyst specializing in Palestinian affairs. “But it’s totally clear that it can impose its sovereignty everywhere in Gaza.”….
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Hamas leaders have indeed expressed readiness to give up civilian governance in Gaza, but without dismantling its military wing — a dynamic that would be similar to Hezbollah’s role in Lebanon before its last conflict with Israel….
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Jan 23, 2025 – ISW Press
CTP-ISW has recorded no verifiable reports of kinetic activity in the Gaza Strip or attacks from the Gaza Strip into Israel since the last data cut off on January 22.
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