Hamas' shift to guerrilla tactics could drag Israel into 'forever war' - report

Hamas has shifted to guerrilla warfare tactics, which could drag the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) into "a forever war," stated The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Wednesday, noting that the terrorist organization is "far from defeated" after seven-month fighting in the Gaza Strip.

"Hamas is attacking more aggressively, firing more antitank weapons at soldiers sheltering in houses and at Israeli military vehicles daily," an Israeli reservist from the 98th commando division currently fighting in Jabalia told WSJ.

Hamas' resilience is a strategic problem for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who vowed to end the war only after the total destruction of the terrorist organization behind the October 7 attack, noted the report.

The group is said to be likely to survive regardless of the IDF choosing to proceed with the full-scale Rafah invasion or to abstain from it. WSJ highlighted Hamas' efficient use of "its network of tunnels, small cells of fighters and broad social influence to not only survive but to harry Israeli forces."

“Even if you erode the terror activity, still you have the societal structures, the sense of Islamic brotherhood, the ideological and religious elements,” the report quoted Maj. Gen. Tamir Hayman, a former head of Israeli military intelligence. “That’s not something that can be rooted out.”