Lt. Col. (res.) Yonatan Duhoch-Halevi, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Foreign and Security Affairs, reveals an analysis of documents seized in the Gaza Strip, which reveal Hamas' strategic goals before and during the war.
"Hamas' instruction to authorize the relevant elements to act to deepen the internal contradictions in Israel, mainly between the Jewish population and the minorities."
According to him, the documents also show that Hamas learned from IDF statements and concluded that Israel fears a ground operation.
"The document states that the Israeli army opposes a ground campaign, and that it regards it as its last course of action, and that it presents the political echelon with scenarios of 700 deaths if it invades Gaza," explains the researcher, adding: "This expresses the collapse of the Israeli concept of deterrence in the eyes of Hamas, which bases its assessment, among other things, on the position of the senior IDF command."