Israeli military analyst: ‘Hamas has complete control over Gaza’

Israeli military analyst Yossi Yehoshua asserted on Friday that Israel has no power over the Hamas movement in Gaza, which has complete control over the Gaza Strip.

This came in an interview with Israel’s i24 News, in which he indicated: “Hamas actually controls the Gaza Strip completely, whether by force or otherwise, and we have no power over it.”

Yehoshua added: “Hamas controls Gaza, and it determines whether or not there have been violations from the Israeli side during the process of handing over the hostages it holds from the Strip.”

Yehoshua ruled out the idea of ​​voluntary displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, questioning how many of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip would accept this displacement.

US President Donald Trump issued statements to reporters on Saturday regarding transferring the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to neighbouring countries such as Egypt and Jordan, citing the “lack of habitable places in the Gaza Strip” as a result of the Israeli genocide with US support that has lasted for more than 15 months.

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Egypt confirmed, in a statement by the Foreign Ministry, its rejection of: “Violating the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, whether through settlement, the annexation of land, or by evacuating the owners of the lands through displacement or encouraging the transfer or uprooting of Palestinians from their land, whether temporarily or long-term.”

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi also confirmed in a press conference on Sunday: “Jordan’s rejection of displacement is constant and unchangeable and is necessary to achieve the stability and peace that we all want.”

The United Nations rejected the displacement of the Palestinians of Gaza to neighbouring countries, as its spokesperson Stephane Dujarric announced during a press conference on Monday: “We would be against any plan that would lead to the forced displacement of people, or would lead to any type of ethnic cleansing.”

On Monday morning, 300,000 Palestinians began returning to Gaza and the north via Al-Rasheed and Salah Al-Din streets. Palestinians were due to return to the north on Sunday. However, Israel refused to remove the roadblocks put in place and delayed their return for 24 hours.

With US support, Israel committed genocide in the Gaza Strip between 7 October, 2023, and 19 January, 2025, leaving more than 159,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them women and children, and more than 14,000 missing.

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