Hamas regains control in Khan Younis following Israeli army withdrawal: Military analyst

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Hamas regained control of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, four days after the Israeli army withdrew from the city, an Israeli military analyst said Wednesday.

''Hamas will be decisively defeated, in a best-case scenario, only by 2026 or 2027, even after its last two brigades are hopefully dismantled this year,” Yoav Zitun wrote in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Zitun highlighted the swift resurgence of Hamas operatives in Khan Younis as residents returned to ravaged homes following the withdrawal.

He emphasized the ongoing challenge faced by Israel in achieving its objectives. ''It (is) increasingly difficult to achieve even the more modest goals of the war: reducing Hamas' civilian, not just military, control,'' he wrote.

Furthermore, Zitun pointed out the army's struggle to identify and target Hamas' intact internal security mechanisms, which continue to operate effectively.

He described the daunting task of locating and neutralizing the dispersed workforce of Hamas operatives as akin to ''finding a needle in a haystack.''

The Israeli army withdrew Brigade 98 on April 7, along with its three battalions, from Khan Younis, following the conclusion of a four-month combat operation.

The army's presence in the Gaza Strip is now limited to the Nahal Brigade stationed in the Netzarim axis, which divides the north from the south of the Strip, to prevent displaced residents from returning to the north.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, which killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 33,300 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 76,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war, now in day 186, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul