WASHINGTON, June 4. /TASS/. Israel's military operation in Gaza is a "strategic disaster," as support for the radical Palestinian movement Hamas among Gazans is actually increasing, Audrey Kurth Cronin, Director of the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology, said in an op-ed for Foreign Affairs magazine.

Cronin argues that while the primary objective of Israel's operation in Gaza was to dismantle Hamas, the Israeli armed forces have merely reduced the number of Hamas fighters. According to the expert, a March 2024 opinion poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research showed support for Hamas among Gazans topping 50%, a 14-point rise since December 2023.

"Simply put, despite some tactical victories, the Israeli war in Gaza has been a strategic disaster," Cronin concludes. The expert attributes this situation to the conflict causing the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, including women and children. Additionally, the increased support for Hamas is linked to Israel's restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza and the Israeli army's operations in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.