Video summary
The recent visit of Benjamin Netanyahu to Gaza has sent a clear message that Israeli troops will not withdraw until Hamas is fully disarmed, a condition that experts suggest Hamas is unlikely to meet completely by handing over its weapons. Analyst Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib highlights that this stance was reinforced by a daring operation where Israeli special forces captured a senior Hamas security official in broad daylight, signaling Israel's serious commitment to remaining in Gaza as long as necessary. While there are indications that some elements within Hamas desire an exit ramp and wish to disarm, the international community, including the United States, Arab nations, and Egypt, has provided very little transparent communication or compelling messaging to facilitate this complex process. Consequently, while Israel has clarified its demands regarding disarmament, it has yet to outline a clear pathway for those factions of Hamas willing to comply, leaving a significant gap in the negotiation framework.
The capture of the head of Hamas's internal security service has caused deep concern among remaining Hamas operatives and created an atmosphere of fear within the group's governance structures. There is speculation that this operation may have been a deliberate targeting of a symbol of oppression who was responsible for decades of torture, killings, and disappearances under Hamas's rule, leading to relief among many Gazans who suffered under his regime. Although some anti-Hamas Palestinian militias may have coordinated with Israeli forces, the primary worry for Hamas leadership is the penetration of their ranks by defectors or informants providing intelligence to Israeli agencies like Shin Bet. This internal instability suggests that while Hamas retains enough control to manage the population, its security apparatus is increasingly unable to protect its own members, further weakening its position and accelerating calls for its removal from power.
Palestinian media and social platforms within Gaza reflect a shifting sentiment where many citizens view Hamas not as a protector but as a significant obstacle preventing reconstruction and peace. Beyond the initial reactions of relief regarding the arrest of specific figures, conversations have evolved to question why Hamas has not disarmed if it cannot even protect its own leaders from Israeli raids. There is a growing consensus that the terror group must expedite its exit from Gaza to allow for a transitional process, whether through phased withdrawal, deradicalization programs, or reintegration efforts for those uninvolved in the October 7th attacks. The current situation is described as a state of purgatory where Gaza lacks full-scale war but also has no real peace, ceasefire, or reconstruction, relying instead on a fragile mix of UN NGOs, private sector aid, and the remnants of Hamas's security apparatus to keep society together.
Ultimately, the people of Gaza are desperate for urgent change and see the continued presence of Hamas as a block in the road to their future stability and safety. Many residents feel that waiting for external political shifts, such as upcoming elections or changes in the US Congress, is not a viable strategy given the ongoing suffering and lack of progress. The community's frustration is palpable as they navigate a limbo between conflict and peace without any real hope for resolution, viewing the disarmament and departure of Hamas elements as essential prerequisites for moving forward. This sentiment underscores the urgent need for international actors to facilitate a transparent process that addresses both the security concerns of Israel and the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian population trapped in this prolonged crisis.
Read the full video transcript
It's a pleasure to welcome Ahmed Fouad
Alkhatib, analyst and senior fellow at
the Atlantic Council and Gaza writer
joining us now from Washington. Ahmed,
thank you so much for your time. So, we
just heard there Benjamin Netanyahu
inside Gaza a very clear message. The
idea of troops aren't going anywhere
until Hamas is disarmed. Realistically,
Hamas is not going to fully hand over
its weapons. How do you see the
situation on the ground unfolding? Your
thoughts.
>> Well, I think the timing of his visit is
notable because it comes a day after the
Israeli special forces led by Shabak
unit or a Shin Bet unit were able to
snag one of Hamas's senior security
officials in a very daring
operation raid in broad daylight. I
think this signals a seriousness that
Israel both has the reach inside Gaza
and has the commitment and the
willingness to stay there for as long as
it deems necessary. The problem is that
we don't really see any messaging on the
process of should Hamas even or elements
of Hamas, many of whom I actually think
do want an off-ramp. Maybe not the
entirety of the group, but elements of
Hamas do want [clears throat] an
off-ramp.
How do they proceed with disarmament? We
have we've seen bits and pieces about
the international stabilization force.
We've heard about this incoming police
force that the N-CAG, the technocratic
committee, is training, but there's very
little transparent or compelling public
messaging and communication by the
United States, by the Arabs, by the
Egyptians, and certainly by Israel that
could facilitate the process of
disarmament. So, I think now Israel has
made its position clear. It needs to
also make clear how this process would
unfold for those elements of Hamas who
are willing to fully disarm.
>> Well, Israel is certainly making its
position clear in terms of action. You
talk about the Shin Bet and IDF
apprehending that top Hamas internal
security figure in Gaza City. It did
play out like a scene in Fauda. There
were reports that anti-Hamas Palestinian
militia may have been involved, too, or
at least there was possibly some level
of coordination. How worrying is an
operation like this for senior Hamas
operatives there, and how would Gazans
be feeling, too, right now?
>> Well, one of the things that I've been
wondering about if um if either this is
a response to urgent intelligence, or if
this is something that um it just a
fleet an opportunity that presented
itself, or if this was a deliberately
selected target because of the symbolic
nature of what this guy represents. This
man was the head of the internal
security service in Gaza, and he's
played a major role in the oppression of
Gazans, the torturing, the killing, the
executions, the disappearances, the the
the the the extortions, blackmail, you
name it, anything dark that happened
under Hamas's regime over the last 20
years, this man has been a part of, and
he's been rising in their ranks. So, I
wondered if the decision was made to
target this guy because so many Israel
predicted um and accurately so that so
many Gazans ever since the attack or the
operation yesterday have been breathing
a sigh of relief that a symbol of
oppression is no longer around, even
though other Gazans are, of course, you
know, condemning the attack, etc.,
whatever, but a lot of people who've
been tortured by Hamas are saying like
good riddance, and that they hope for
more um of Hamas's figures who have held
Gaza back, who have held Gazans as
hostages to Hamas's jihadi fascism are
either taken out or or moved out of the
way for a better future. I I think that
what we I've seen
some chatter in in Gaza that Hamas has
actually nagged some of its own
operatives that it suspects provided
intelligence to the Israeli
Shin Bet suggesting that there's
penetration of Hamas ranks, but I I I
don't I don't I don't know that the
militias that Israel's been funding and
supporting are really as critical in
this attack as potential defectors of
Hamas. I would be very nervous if I were
part of the remaining structure of
Hamas's governance or Hamas's Al-Qassam
Brigades.
>> There's no doubt about that and we keep
on hearing Benjamin Netanyahu with that
directive saying that Israel will
continue to pursue all Hamas leaders and
everyone who took part in the October
7th massacre. How is all of this being
covered by Palestinian media? Give us a
sense of the concerns, the sentiment
right now for Gazans in inside the strip
as we speak.
>> So beyond the folks that I shared with
you who met some of whom are personal
friends, some of whom I mean I I wish
more Israelis would would learn Arabic
or use AI to just check out Facebook and
and Gaza centered Gaza centric social
media because you would just learn so
much about what people are actually
saying there, not what Al Jazeera or
other channels are saying. So beyond the
initial wave of
folks who are saying good riddance or
kind of saying well, so then why is
Hamas mobilized like basically it seems
that Hamas's remaining security
infrastructure is optimized for
maintaining control of the population,
but that they're unable to even protect
themselves. So why haven't you disarmed?
And that So that's the second tier of
the conversations and how Palestinian
media and analysts are covering this is
that this signals not only penetration
by Israeli intelligence of Hamas, not
only the weakness of Hamas, but the
urgent need for the terror group to
expedite its exit from the scene to
basically carry on with the process of
disarmament regardless of the phased
withdrawal and the framework and the
storing versus the destruction of the
weapons that Hamas needs to expediently
leave the scene, take offers to leave
Gaza and go elsewhere or those who
haven't been involved in October 7th or
some of the most vile terrorism actually
accept processes for deradicalization
and reintegration, but this is seen as
yet more potential fuel for expediting
the stalled and frozen transitional
process that Hamas has been blamed by
most of the people of Gaza for not
engaging with seriously thinking that it
can wait out until these really
elections or the US
midterm elections maybe a Democratic
Congress is going to apply more pressure
on Israel.
Gaza is not desperate. Gaza is not sick
and tired of being a people in waiting.
They're kind of in purgatory in between
there's not a full on war. There's no
real peace or ceasefire. There's no
reconstruction. Gaza is kept together by
an amalgamation of UN NGOs, private
sector and remnants of Hamas's security
apparatus. So they're desperate for an
urgent change and they see Hamas very
much as a block in the road.