It has been nearly six months since Hamas fighters attacked Gaza’s border towns on October 7, killing about 1,200 Israelis and taking hundreds hostage, according to Israeli authorities, who have vowed to “crush and destroy Hamas” so that it no longer poses any threat in the future. And return all hostages to Israel.
In the retaliatory war that followed, at least 33,000 Palestinians were killed, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, and large parts of the Strip were destroyed.
Israel says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters and destroyed large parts of Gaza’s vast tunnel network, which Hamas used to carry out its attacks.
The BBC’s fact-finding department monitored public statements and posts by the Israeli army on social media, and assessed the evidence behind the achievement of Israel’s stated goals.
How many Hamas leaders were killed?
Before October 7, Hamas was believed to have about 30,000 fighters in Gaza, according to reports cited by Israeli army commanders.
Many of Hamas’ senior political figures, such as Ismail Haniyeh – who is considered the group’s overall leader – live abroad, but many of its military leadership are believed to be inside Gaza.
The Israeli army said, in a recent statement, that it had killed about 13,000 Hamas fighters since the beginning of the war, although it did not say how it reached this number.
Israel also published some of the names of Hamas leaders who it said were killed.
It has named a total of 113 people since October, and says the vast majority of them were killed in the first three months of the war. In contrast, the Israeli military did not report the killing of any senior Hamas leaders in Gaza this year until March.
On March 26, the Israeli army said that it had killed Marwan Issa, deputy commander of the military wing of Hamas, who is considered one of the most wanted men in Israel, and therefore the largest leader of the group to be killed since the war began. While the United States also confirmed his death, Hamas has not confirmed this yet.
The Israeli army also published the names of individuals it said were senior leaders in Hamas who were killed during the war, but it cannot be verified whether these names belong to members of the group. Among those whose names appeared in this category is Mustafa Thuraya, who worked as an independent journalist in the south. Gaza when he was killed after his car was bombed in January.
We also found duplicate names on the list, which calls for their deletion from the total number of Hamas leaders killed.
Outside Gaza, an explosion in the southern suburb of Beirut in January killed a Hamas political leader, Saleh Al-Arouri, and Israel is considered responsible for this attack.
However, experts we spoke to said that several prominent Hamas leaders in Gaza, including Yahya Sinwar, are believed to be still alive.
image source, Reuters
Several of the movement’s prominent leaders in Gaza, including Yahya Sinwar, are believed to be still alive
“The Israeli military has not had access to senior Hamas leadership officers,” says Merav Zonszin, an Israeli-Palestinian analyst at the International Crisis Group.
“Whether on the symbolic level of reaching key leaders, or on the level of undermining Hamas’ authority on the ground, this is something that Israel has not been able to achieve,” Zonszyn says.
How many hostages are left in Gaza?
According to official Israeli figures, 253 people were taken hostage on October 7, and 109 of them were released as part of prisoner exchanges or separate deals during the past months. The Israeli army also announced that it was able to find three hostages during military operations.
The bodies of 11 hostages were recovered, including three whom the Israeli army admitted killing in one of its operations.
The youngest hostage confirmed alive is an 18-year-old, while the oldest hostage is 85 years old. Of the remaining 130 hostages, Israel says at least 34 hostages have died.
Hamas says the number of hostage deaths is higher, as a result of air strikes carried out by the Israeli army, but it is not possible to verify these claims.
As for the two youngest hostages taken by Hamas during the attacks, they were Ariel and Kfir, who were 4 years and 9 months old at the time of their kidnapping. Their deaths were reported earlier, but this was not confirmed.
image source, Reuters
In February, Fernando Simón Marman and Luis Herr were released
What is the size of the Hamas tunnel network that was destroyed?
As part of its pledge to eliminate Hamas, Israel has vowed to destroy the movement’s extensive network of tunnels under Gaza, which it uses to transport goods and people.
An Israeli military spokesman, Jonathan Conricus, said in October: “Think of the Gaza Strip as two layers, one for civilians and then another layer for Hamas. We are trying to reach the second layer that Hamas built.”
Hamas had previously said that its tunnel network extended 500 kilometers (311 miles), although there was no way to independently verify this.
image source, Reuters
Hamas said that its tunnels extend for 500 kilometers, and it is not possible to verify this
We asked the Israeli army about the number of tunnels it destroyed, and their percentage of the total network of tunnels that Hamas spoke about, and it said in its response that its forces “destroyed a large part of the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.”
The Israeli army has sometimes published photos of Hamas tunnels it has discovered. For example, in November, the Israeli army published a video of part of a tunnel network that it said was underneath Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, and that it was being used as a command center.
To try to determine the total network of tunnels that the Israeli army said it had discovered, the BBC fact-finding team reviewed all Israeli army messages on the social media platform Telegram that referred to tunnels in Gaza, between 7 October 2023 and 26 March. /March 2024.
The Israeli army published 198 leaflets talking about tunnels, in which it said that it had found tunnels or tunnel openings, while 141 other messages claimed that these tunnels had been destroyed or dismantled.
Most of these messages did not provide precise details or specific locations, so it is not possible to confirm the size of the network that the Israeli army uncovered or destroyed.
The maze – as it is described – under Gaza consists of several levels, including tunnel paths and rooms of different sizes, in addition to the point where the tunnel meets the surface – known as tunnel shafts.
Of the messages we analysed, 36 referred to the destruction of more than 400 “tunnel shafts.” However, counting these numbers as complete tunnels is misleading, says Dr. Daphne Richmond-Barak, an expert on underground warfare who teaches at Reichmann University. in Israel.
She says that the simple destruction of the tunnel shafts leaves the network intact, and adds: “I don’t think we have seen a lot of complete destruction of tunnels in this war.”
Who pays the high price?
Palestinians in Gaza paid a heavy price for Israel’s war goals, with more than 33,000 people killed, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
The latest census issued by the ministry on April 5 indicates that more than 70 percent of the dead were women and children.
image source, Reuters
Nearly six months after the start of the war, large areas of Gaza are in ruins
Many other people have also been displaced and left homeless, while Israeli forces are trying to destroy Hamas’ infrastructure, and United Nations estimates indicate that more than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced.
Residential areas were destroyed, crowded streets were turned into rubble, universities were destroyed, and agricultural lands were turned into rubble.
More than 56 percent of buildings in Gaza have been damaged or completely destroyed since the beginning of the war, according to an analysis of satellite data.
Six months after the start of the war, it is still unclear whether Israel has achieved its goals in the war or not.
Additional reporting by Rob England, Maryam Ahmed, Jamie Ryan and Emma Pengelly.
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