Analysis Progress 1s slow and IDF victory’ hard to define

Israel's insistence to the Biden administration that it needs more time to defeat Hamas has raised questions over the level of damage inflicted on the Islamist militant organisation, and whether it is changing tactics in its fight against the Israel Defense Forces.

- Peter Beaumont Jerusalem

In a week when Israel lost nine soldiers including two senior commanders and several other officers in a single complex ambush in the Shujai'iya neighbourhood of Gaza City, analysts and commentators have begun to question previously bullish assessments about the reduction in Hamas's ability to fight.

While the Israeli media has made much of images of Hamas fighters surrendering and the IDF has claimed to have killed several thousand Hamas militants, the public language from some senior political and military figures has become more cautious.

Among those who have alluded to the difficulties in destroying Hamas has been the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in comments made to the US national security adviser this week. "Hamas is a terrorist organisation that built itself over a decade to fight Israel, and they built infrastructure under the ground and above the ground and it is not easy to destroy them," Gallant said. "It will require a period of time - it will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them."