Tunnels Work, Hamas survived, A Hamas Rival Falls in Gaza

The phrase "Tunnels Work, Hamas survived, A Hamas Rival Falls in Gaza" summarizes recent developments in the Gaza conflict, highlighting the strategic importance of the tunnel network for Hamas and the recent elimination of a key anti-Hamas militia leader, Yasser Abu Shabab

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Tunnels Work and Hamas Survived

 

    Strategic Advantage: The extensive, complex, and deep tunnel network (often called the "Gaza Metro") has proven a significant military advantage and a primary reason for Hamas's continued operational capability and survival. The tunnels allow fighters to move undetected, store weapons, launch attacks, and return to cover, largely neutralizing Israel's air superiority.

    Resilience: Despite Israeli efforts to destroy the tunnels with bunker-buster munitions and ground operations, a significant portion of the network may still be intact. Hamas has adapted, using blast doors and training its fighters to survive and operate underground for extended periods, sometimes living off minimal supplies like dates and water.

    Current Situation: As of early December 2025, scores of Hamas fighters who were trapped in tunnels in Israeli-occupied eastern Rafah have reportedly either been killed, captured, or managed to escape back to Hamas-controlled areas, further demonstrating the network's function in evading capture.

 

A Hamas Rival Falls in Gaza

 

    Yasser Abu Shabab's Death: Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of the "Popular Forces," a prominent anti-Hamas militia reportedly backed by Israel, was killed in an internal clash or ambush in early December 2025.

    Context: Abu Shabab's group had been operating in eastern Rafah, coordinating with Israeli forces around aid distribution points and challenging Hamas's authority. Israel's defense establishment reportedly viewed him as a potential part of an "alternative to Hamas" for post-war governance, but he was a controversial figure with many rivals.

    Implications: His death is considered a blow to Israeli efforts to establish a local, non-Hamas governing body in parts of Gaza. It highlights the complex and volatile nature of internal Gaza dynamics and underscores the difficulty Israel faces in dictating the territory's future leadership. Ghassan Al-Duhaini, Abu Shabab's deputy, has since been appointed to lead the group.

 

“The leader of the most prominent anti-Hamas militia in Gaza was killed on Thursday. Yasser Abu Shabab, commander of the Popular Forces, contributed an op-ed to these pages in July: "Gazans Are Finished With Hamas." If only Hamas were finished with Gazans.

 

Abu Shabab, a Tarabin Bedouin, apparently was killed in a clash with a rival family, not Hamas, but the terrorists have retaken the western half of Gaza from which Israel withdrew in October. In the early days of the cease-fire, Hamas carried out a wave of public executions of Palestinians whose clans it considered rivals.

 

Those killings, and the torture and extortion that continue, are designed to neutralize alternatives to Hamas rule. Hamas did the same to Fatah earlier this century. Fatah in turn had purged pro-Jordanian Palestinian leaders, and even earlier the father of Palestinian nationalism, Amin al-Husseini, had his moderate Nashashibi rivals assassinated. The contemporary national movement is the result of generations of purges of anyone who would end the Palestinian forever war against Israel.

 

For Hamas as for its predecessors, it's working. Two months into the cease-fire, not a single Hamas terrorist has disarmed, an obvious breach of the agreement. Nor has any International Stabilization Force deployed.

 

Arab and Muslim states see the reality on the ground. They signed up for peacekeeping, as King Abdullah of Jordan told the BBC in late October. "If it's 'peace enforcing,' nobody will want to touch that," he said. The job has been left vacant. In its absence, Hamas on Wednesday wounded five Israeli troops, and the Israel Defense Forces carried out an air strike in response, reportedly killing five.

 

This low-level fighting isn't war, but it sure isn't peace. The new, harmonious Gaza that President Trump outlined in late September has unsurprisingly proved elusive. So long as Hamas rules territory, peace is mere talk. There's only the countdown to the next war, which again will likely fail to destroy Israel but bring ruin to Palestinians. Any Palestinian who tries to change that usually ends up dead.” [1]

 

1. A Hamas Rival Falls in Gaza. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 05 Dec 2025: A14.