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Middle East conflict

Hamas unlikely to collapse after leader’s death, expert says

The killing of the leaders has only increased the support for Hamas among Palestinians," Roostum Vansu noted

BANGKOK, July 31. /TASS/. The Palestinian movement Hamas will not collapse after the death of Ismail Haniyeh, head of its political bureau, Roostum Vansu, expert in international affairs and lecturer at the Institute for Peace Studies, Prince of Songkla University, told TASS.

"Israel has killed several senior Hamas leaders, including Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin (assassinated in 2004), Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi (2004), Marwan Issa (2024), Saleh al-Arouri (2024), and most recently, Ismail Haniyeh. According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is targeting Hamas leaders both inside and outside Gaza, believing that this will weaken the group and ultimately lead to its collapse. But the question to ask is whether Israel's past policy of killing Hamas leaders has actually weakened Hamas. The answer is no. Israel has failed to uproot Hamas," he pointed out.

"Hamas is a political party, a political ideology that stands in opposition to the occupation, Israel. The man may die, but the ideology never dies. The leaders of one generation are killed and replaced by new leaders endlessly, as long as the main problem is not solved, which is the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The killing of the leaders has only increased the support for Hamas among Palestinians," the expert noted.

Speaking about the reasons behind Haniyeh’s assassination, ascribed to Israel, Vansu pointed out that the Jewish state "is fighting the endless war" in the Gaza Strip. "It has been almost a year and it still cannot achieve its objective of destroying Hamas. When the Israelis seize one area, Hamas appears in another. When Israel withdraws, it will find that Hamas returns to that area. This never ends. Therefore, since it cannot achieve the objective of this war, which is to uproot Hamas, the only way left is to assassinate the Hamas leader. This may be the only success to refer to as victory in the war and finally end the war," Vansu added.

Earlier, Hamas reported Haniyeh's death in an Israeli strike on his residence in Tehran, where he had attended the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. The Al Hadath TV channel reported that Haniyeh had been killed in a direct missile strike. The Israeli army refused to comment to CNN on Haniyeh's death. According to The Jerusalem Post newspaper, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his ministers to keep quiet on the matter. The paper reports that parliament members received a similar recommendation.

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