The Washington Post reported that for the first time this year, the terrorist group has paraded through Gaza and had funerals for those who have died in the war. Hamas-affiliated officers were seen giving orders as well as directing traffic. On social media, terrorist-affiliated accounts that have been inactive have appeared again. The group has been regrouping as the ceasefire has allowed for a pause in the war.
The six-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is set to end on March 2, and Netanyahu has threatened to resume fighting to achieve his initial goal of dismantling Hamas. Although Hamas has said that it will honor the aspects of the ceasefire deal to return all the hostages back to Israel peacefully, some have been skeptical the group will hold up its end of the deal.
Former director of the Israeli National Security Council Giora Eiland said that the war thus far has been a "failure" as Hamas has still been able to survive the war. “We adopted the false assumption that only military pressure — meaning, you kill a lot of people and destroy a lot of buildings — will bring results, but it didn’t. After 15 months, Israel actually failed to achieve its goal," Eiland said.
Trump announced the ceasefire deal with Israel and Hamas earlier in January, while Biden also took credit for getting the deal done. Over the course of the next six weeks, Hamas has said that it will release 33 of the 100 hostages it has in exchange for 1,500 Palestinians, many of them convicted terrorists.
On Saturday, in the second transfer of hostages, four Israeli women were released by Hamas in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners.
