The counterstrikes by Israel have been devastating to Hamas already.
Reports started to surface on Wednesday that the strikes have taken out several prominent leaders of Hamas, including a founding member of the terror group.
It did not take Israel long at all to dial up the attacks against Hamas.
The Gaza Strip has been getting pounded, with Israel dialing in on precise targets.
They have been going after known locations of Hamas leaders, tunnels used by Hamas fighters, and people known to have filmed the torture of hostages in the streets.
The top official believed to have died in one of the strikes is Abd al-Fattah Dukhan, a senior Hamas official known as "Abu Osama."
Two other senior Hamas leaders, Zachariah Abu Ma'amar and Jawad Abu Shamala, were also reportedly killed.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has confirmed the attacks, stating that it also took out Hamas command centers involved in the initial attack against Israel.
The IDF stated:
"IDF aircraft struck Muhammad Abu Shamla, a senior Hamas naval operative in the Rafah Brigade. Abu Shamla's residence was used to store naval weapons designated for terror against the State of Israel."
Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman, added:
"Right now we are focused on taking out their senior leadership. Not only the military leadership, but also the governmental leadership, all the way up to [top Hamas leader Yehiyeh] Sinwar. They were directly connected."
The IDF is also targeting Hamas' Nukhba elite force.
It explained:
"The Nukhba elite forces consist of terrorists selected by senior Hamas operatives, designated to carry out terrorist attacks such as ambushes, raids, assaults, infiltration through terror tunnels, as well as anti-tank missile, rocket, and sniper fire.
"The Nukhba elite forces were one of the leading forces that infiltrated the State of Israel in order to carry out murderous acts of terror against its civilians."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has wanted to wipe out Hamas since his first day in office, but he has had to temper his attacks based on the attacks by Hamas over the years.
It has been tit for tat since Netanyahu first took office in 1996, it continued when he resumed office in 2009, and it surely was present when he retook office in 2022.
He has literally been waiting for Hamas to cross a line that would enable him to unleash everything he had on Gaza, and the attack on Saturday finally gave him the reason that the world would accept.
Netanyahu bluntly stated:
"Every Hamas member is a dead man."
This is precisely what Israel needs to do to end this war quickly before it escalates into WWIII.
Killing leadership shows that Israel knows where they are all are and it has the capability of taking them out at any time.
While I do not think the death of these three men will slow Hamas down, if Israel can continue to pick off these leaders, and their replacements, as well as constant missile attacks on every inch of Gaza, as we have been seeing, it is only a matter of time before the people of Gaza turn on Hamas.
When you lose the people, you lose the war. At some point, Palestinians are going to realize that supporting Hamas will ultimately lead to their demise, and self-preservation often wins out unless you are extremely fanatical about your cause.
