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Israel Escalates Strikes on Hamas ‘Political’ Wing
A drone view shows buildings lying in ruins, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, Jan. 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Al-Basos
JNS.org – The Israel Defense Forces conducted extensive air and artillery strikes across northern, central and southern Gaza overnight on Thursday, killing Abd al-Latif Qanoua, a senior Hamas spokesman, slain in Jabalia in a strike on his tent.
The attacks are part of a broader campaign to systematically eliminate key figures in both Hamas’s military-terrorist wing, and its “political” leadership.
This, combined with Israel preventing aid trucks from entering Gaza—supplies that were stolen by Hamas and used to bolster its regime—signals an Israeli strategic pivot from strictly targeting “military” wing operatives to dismantling the governing infrastructure sustaining Hamas’s rule.
In recent days, Israel has killed several senior officials of Hamas’s Political Bureau. These included Ismail Barhoum, who managed the organization’s finances and directed funds toward terror planning and weapons procurement.
He was killed in a joint IDF and Shin Bet operation at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. Just before his death, Barhoum had succeeded Issam Da’alis, Hamas’s “prime minister” in Gaza, who was killed in mid-March. Salah Bardawil, head of Hamas’s Planning and Development Office in southern Gaza, was also targeted and killed by Israel.
The goals of the war
Meir Ben-Shabbat, head of the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, who is former Israeli national security adviser and ex-head of the National Security Council, told JNS on Wednesday that “one of the goals of the war, as determined by the political echelon, is the destruction of Hamas’s governing capabilities. This goal cannot be achieved without targeting the functionaries who run Hamas’s administration in Gaza. This is a necessary step.”
He added, “The achievements in recent days are impressive, but the pace must be increased and the blow to Hamas intensified.”
Ben-Shabbat emphasized the importance of Israel controlling the flow of aid “after we have seen that this aid is being used by Hamas both to rearm for continued war and to bolster its governance over the population.”
According to Ben-Shabbat, “To understand why, one must revisit the footage and images from October 7, the monstrous atrocities, and the participation of elderly and youths in these acts. The celebrations in Gaza over the abduction of elderly people, women and children. The horrific stories of what our hostages endured—59 of whom are still held in Gaza.”
In the first part of the war, Israel’s approach to Hamas’s “political” infrastructure. Ben-Shabbat argued that Israel at that time “acted under different conditions—under constraints imposed by the Biden administration and operational limitations that forced it to prioritize its overall tasks. Today, those constraints no longer exist and the operational space is far broader.”
The eyes of the population
Lt. Col. (res.) Amit Yagur, former deputy head of the Palestinian arena at the IDF Planning Branch and a former naval intelligence officer, told JNS on Wednesday that Hamas’s true strategic center of gravity lies not in its rockets or gunmen but in its civilian governance and perceived legitimacy among Gazan civilians.
“Hamas know that in a military confrontation with Israel, their ammunition depots and all their military capabilities will be damaged—that’s something they expect. What they aim to preserve is their organizational survival and legitimacy in the eyes of the population,” Yagur said.
“The military capacity is relatively easy to rebuild. You get hit, you start to restore the military capability. You start restoring workshops using aid coming in, you manufacture more rockets again, you arm the youths. But the civilian governing capacity is much harder to rebuild for Hamas once it’s been damaged.”
Yagur explained that Hamas’s legitimacy rests on its ability to govern and deliver aid. “The population says to Hamas, ‘you stayed as the ruler, okay, rebuild. Bring back our homes and our lives.’”
When Hamas can’t do that, it begins to lose legitimacy, argued Yagur, which is why Hamas is desperate for caravans and aid infrastructure—so it can demonstrate that it’s rebuilding.
Yagur criticized Israel’s past focus on purely military targets, stating that eighty to 90% of everything the IDF had attacked in Gaza was focused on military targets like terror operatives, rockets, weapons. “That’s what I call speaking in the military language only. It’s a mistake,” he said, since Hamas’s “main goal is to stay in power.”
The previous military echelon was highly opposed to any activity by Israel in Gaza’s civilian sphere, he noted. “There were a few attempts to cement civilian clans that would take control from Hamas in the middle of 2024. These efforts failed,” he recalled. “Today, everyone understands how important it is to seize control of the distribution of humanitarian aid.”
According to Yagur, the recent focus on Hamas’s political wing marked a necessary correction. “For the first time, we’re seeing the large-scale targeting of the people who run the civilian system in the Gaza Strip. These are Hamas figures. This damages their ability to recover, to govern and interface with the population.”
Protests against Hamas
The shift in approach was quickly followed in Gaza by mounting and unprecedented civilian Palestinian protests against Hamas.
Between March 25 and 27, protests erupted in at least seven locations across Gaza, including Beit Lahia, Jabalia Camp, Shejaiya in Gaza City, Zeitoun, Nuseirat, Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah. These followed a major demonstration on March 25 in Beit Lahia, where hundreds of civilians waved white flags and called for an end to the war.
That protest, reportedly organized in part by Fatah affiliates and the “Bidna Na’ish” (“We want to live”) initiative, marked the first large-scale civilian protest since Israel closed Gaza’s border crossings.
Protesters chanted, “Hamas out, Hamas out,” and called out journalists, including from Al Jazeera, demanding media coverage of the events.
Videos circulated showing notable elders from Beit Lahia speaking openly and uncovered against Hamas, indicating bread down of a previous fear barrier.
“These are respected community figures coming out with uncovered faces. That’s not children or women saying, ‘save me’—these are known figures going directly against Hamas. It shows the fear barrier might be cracking a little,” said Yagur.
Human shields
Meanwhile, Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, issued fresh evacuation warnings on Thursday to Gaza residents in Zeitoun, Tel al-Hawa, the Old City of Gaza, Sheikh Ajlin and other neighborhoods, advising them to evacuate ahead of intensified Israeli strikes on Hamas, which continues to systematically use civilians as human shields.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz directly addressed Gaza’s population on Wednesday, warning that more areas will be evacuated, and called on civilians to rise against Hamas and pressure for the release of Israeli hostages. “This is the only way to stop the war,” he said.
Ben-Shabbat outlined what he believed should be Israel’s long-term goal for Gaza: “In my view, President Trump’s vision outlines the scenario that Israel should strive for regarding Gaza: voluntary emigration, enabling first of all the departure of those who wish to live elsewhere. This is an opportunity for historic, fundamental change.”
“Israel must obtain all of the goals it set for this war: return of the hostages, destruction of Hamas, removal of the threat from Gaza. The minimal security goal that it must achieve is demilitarization.
“In the end state of the war in Gaza, Israel will have full security control in this area, and there will be no other fighting force, means, or capabilities that will threaten Israel and its people. Hamas will not only not rule, it will not be a significant force in this area and lose its military, governing, and organizational infrastructure.”
Yagur added that Hamas must be stripped of its interface with the population. “We need to take away its connection to the population—and that means controlling humanitarian aid distribution.” He argued this could be done through American security contractors under IDF protection, or directly by IDF units in designated humanitarian zones.
Such civilian control efforts are more damaging to Hamas than bombs alone, he said. “These are the things that disrupt them most.”
The post Israel Escalates Strikes on Hamas ‘Political’ Wing first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.