Weakened but still standing: Hamas fights on in Gaza

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00:00After the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu set out the goal of wiping

00:06out the Palestinian militant group.

00:09After a devastating 15 months of war, the group has been considerably weakened.

00:14According to experts, it has just a few hundred rockets left, compared with more than 15,000

00:20at the start of the war.

00:23Israel claims to have killed more than 17,000 of its militants, around half of its fighters.

00:28Yet Hamas frequently broadcasts propaganda videos, like this undated one, which claims

00:34to show its fighters attacking Israeli positions.

00:38Even if they're lacking arms, and not all their fighters are practiced, they can still

00:43inflict damage.

00:44These past three months, we saw in northern Gaza that Hamas challenged the Israeli army,

00:49killing 50 soldiers.

00:53The vast majority of Hamas' senior figures have been killed by the Israeli army.

00:57Most recently, Yair Sinwar was assassinated.

01:00He was widely thought to be the architect behind the October 7th attacks, and was recently

01:05replaced by his brother Mohammed.

01:07Therefore despite being battered, Hamas is still standing.

01:11According to the US Secretary of State, the group has been rebuilding itself.

01:17We assess that Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost.

01:21Although many Palestinians have condemned the October 7th attacks, Hamas remains the

01:26dominant Palestinian power in Gaza, and no rival force has emerged.

01:31Obviously Hamas still exists.

01:33They took part in negotiations.

01:35And this raises the question, who is the political alternative to Hamas?

01:39For now, there's no one.

01:41And although Hamas' allies have been crippled in Lebanon and weakened in Iran, the Palestinian

01:46militant group refuses to surrender.

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