Hamas ends the game after destroying Gaza

11/10/2025

“AS USUAL, the Muslim Brotherhood, including Hamas, adapts to unfolding events in a way that portrays them as always being right, always victorious, and justified in their actions, even at the expense of innocent lives,” columnist Hamad Salem Al-Marri wrote for Al- Seyassah daily.

“Following Hamas’s ill-conceived “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation on October 7, 2023, the toll has been devastating. Around 64,000 Palestinians were killed, including 18,000 children and 12,400 women, approximately 163,000 were injured, many with permanent disabilities, and 14,000 were still missing, likely buried under the rubble of Gaza’s destroyed buildings.

“Despite this staggering toll, Hamas leaders continue to insist that they have achieved victory, claiming their losses are merely tactical, while the losses of the Israeli side are strategic.

“Since the early days of the Gaza war, which Hamas triggered in an attempt to secure the release of Israeli prisoners, the group’s leaders have disregarded repeated advice from Arab leaders. This justification, initially used by the Israeli government to press pause on the conflict, has long since unraveled.

“Two years into the war, Arab leaders continue urging Hamas to accept U.S. President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan, aimed at preventing Israel from seizing control of Gaza and forcibly displacing its population following widespread destruction. The plan offers safe passage for Hamas leaders and fighters out of Gaza and proposes transferring governance to an Arab-Muslim committee until a technocratic Palestinian government can be established. Despite this, Hamas continues to reject the proposal, labeling any acceptance as an act of betrayal.

“However, after surviving an assassination attempt by Israel at their residence in Qatar, and realizing that Israeli forces could potentially target them anywhere in the world, the remaining Hamas leaders shifted their stance and agreed to the Trump-backed ceasefire plan, now describing it as supportive of the rights of the Palestinian people.

“Hamas’s ill-conceived operation, the so-called “Al-Aqsa Flood,” strengthened Israel’s position in Arab-Israeli negotiations on a two-state solution. It diverted Arab attention toward a devastating war in Gaza, and away from any real progress, and will now divert them again toward reconstruction efforts. As a result, the Arab world faces the burden of rebuilding Gaza after suffering a massive loss of life, with no tangible benefit to the Palestinian people or their just cause.

“All of this unfolded because Hamas blindly followed Iran’s agenda to the extent that one of its leaders publicly stated the Al-Aqsa Flood was carried out in revenge for the killing of Qassem Suleimani. Hamas’s decision to capture Israeli hostages ignited a war that reduced Gaza to rubble. Now, after handing over those same hostages in a bid to halt the very war it triggered, the question remains - what did the Palestinian people gain from this recklessness, other than death, destruction, and starvation? “Hamas may have ended the game, but after Gaza was destroyed.”