Cease-Fire Deal With Israel Comes as Hamas Is Severely Weakened

Hamas may claim victory after a cease-fire with Israel that was announced on Wednesday, but 15 months of war have left the militant group severely weakened.Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Gaza, which began weeks after the deadly Oct.7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, have decimated the 21 battalions that formed the main unit of the group’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, according to military analysts.

The total number of Hamas fighters killed is unclear.In September, a spokesman for the Israeli military put the number at more than 17,000, including a number of senior commanders.Hamas’s ability to mount sustained and coordinated operations has also been greatly reduced, the analysts say.

Israel has destroyed large quantities of Hamas’s military hardware and disabled many of the tunnels it used to transport and store material.Israel also seized a strip of land that runs along Gaza’s southern border in May, depriving Hamas of a conduit to funnel military supplies and personnel into the enclave from Egypt.Hamas has lost many of its senior leaders.

Israeli forces killed the commander of Hamas’s military wing, Muhammad Deif, in July; another top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, later that month; and the group’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, in October.Mr.

Sinwar had emerged from two decades in Israeli prisons to help plot the Oct.7 attack.“Israel worked on the ground for 15 months with a massive force and managed to destroy much of what Hamas had there,” said Ahron Bregman, a former Israeli military officer who is now a political scientist and expert in Middle East security issues at King’s College London.But he added that Hamas might still have reason to congratulate itself.

“Israel has turned Gaza into dust but Hamas is still standing and they have not raised the white flag,” he said.The Iran-backed regional proxy network that has helped sustain Hamas has also been decimated.Israel stepped up its assault on the Lebanese militia Hezbollah starting in Septe...