Israeli officials say pressure on Hamas is ‘fading’

Assessments within the Israeli security and political establishment indicate that the pressure on Hamas is fading, Quds Press reported on Tuesday. Internal criticism is increasing regarding the way that the latest military campaign in Gaza over the past three weeks has been managed, said the outlet, citing Israeli newspaper Maariv.

“The results on the ground do not reflect the level of pressure we intended Hamas to feel,” a political official was quoted as saying. He noted that the Islamic resistance movement is not showing flexibility in negotiations over the release of Israeli captives, due to the insufficient level of pressure being exerted.

According to a senior security official cited by Maariv, Israel’s ability to apply meaningful pressure diminishes with time. “Hamas is using this time to recover,” he said, stressing that the group’s situation today is entirely different from what it was three weeks ago. He claimed that there is no real offensive fighting in Gaza now, and that the pressure on Hamas is barely present and continues to dissipate.

Israel resumed its offensive and tightened the blockade on the Gaza Strip in the early hours of 18 March, following a two-month pause under a ceasefire agreement that took effect on 19 January. However, Israel violated the terms of the ceasefire repeatedly even when it was in force.

Since 7 October 2023, with US and European support, Israel has committed what rights groups and international observers have described as genocide in Gaza. The attacks have killed or wounded at least 166,000 Palestinians — the majority of them women and children — while more than 14,000 are missing, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes and other civilian infrastructure destroyed by the occupation state.

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