It’s a bad time to be a Hamas fighter. Since the October 7th attack on Israel, there’s not a life insurance agency on the planet that would cover a Hamas militant at any price, as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been doing a pretty good job of finding and deleting these people.
On Thursday, we learned just how good they are – IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari claims that the IDF has wiped out over half of Hamas’ fighters.
That’s a good start.
The Israeli military has touted that their forces have killed more than 17,000 Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip since the war began, with US officials saying the Jewish state has achieved “the vast majority” of its goals against the terrorists.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said about 56% of Hamas’ estimated 30,000 forces have been wiped out since Israel waged war following the Oct. 7 massacre.
Hagari said the blow has greatly affected Hamas’ ability to regroup and recover as small battalions have continued to resurface across Gaza after months of intense fighting.
Here’s the thing: This war, as with all wars, will be decided by logistics. Israel is well-suited here; they have ample supplies of weapons and ammo and can easily funnel supplies into Gaza. Hamas can get some supplies from Lebanon and Syria, but Israel can interdict those supply chains, while Hamas has more trouble cutting off IDF supplies.
It’s all about beans and bullets, and the Israelis have more of both.
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This will upset the pro-Hamas brigades on some of America’s Ivy League campuses: White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby is indicating that, at least for the time being, America will have Israel’s back. Mind you, there’s no reason for America to be directly involved; horrendous as the October 7th attacks were, and as justified as Israel is in wanting to find and un-alive every Hamas fighter, this isn’t our fight, and we have troubles of our own. But we can nevertheless help our ally Israel with logistical support.
“Hamas is not just a military organization. It is also an ideology, which still does not believe in the existence of the State of Israel, an ideology which continues to persist in the warped idea that what happened on the 7th of October ought to be able to happen again,” Kirby told reporters Thursday.
“So we’re going to continue to make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against that threat,” he added.
Israel seems to understand something that the “woke” elements among our armed forces appear to have forgotten: The purpose of a military is to find and un-alive bad guys. The IDF has been doing hard work but great work; they are not going untouched or unbloodied, but they show every indication of being willing to finish the job. That’s understandable. After last October’s attack by Hamas, it’s a safe bet that the attitude among IDF troops is that there is not a hole deep enough for Hamas to hide in where the IDF won’t find them.
As of now, they would appear to have found and revoked the birth certificates of over half of them. That’s good. The other half are still out there. This is a good start, but the last months have made one thing very obvious: There will be no lasting peace in Gaza until Hamas is removed from the board, and if that requires the IDF making every last Hamas terrorist into a late terrorist, then that’s what they should be willing to do.
