Hostage-taking is not an end in itself for Hamas, but rather an instrument to showcase its violence to as many people around the globe as possible, believes Vitalie Marinuța, former minister of defense of Moldova.
During an IPN debate discussing the situation in Israel, the ex-minister mentioned that a goal pursued by the Palestinian militants is to force the state of Israel to release the fighters of Hamas and other groups, or to withdraw from the occupied territories. According to Vitalie Marinuța, Israel is strong, it has the support of the international community. Hamas does not have the capacity to start an all-out war. Israel aims to preserve its territory and protect its people.
Vitalie Marinuța said that in the first phase Israel was surprised, which exposed flaws even in the case of this important military power. On the other hand, today Hamas is not what it used to be ten years ago. In 2018, all militarist groups in the Gaza Strip and other factions with political intentions reached consensus to form a so-called joint operation room of Palestinian resistance forces. “And basically 30 or so militaristic factions were able to agree to coordinate theri actions against Israel. That was in 2016. By 2018, they reached this agreement between themselves, and from 2019 until 2022, they were conducting joint military exercises at the end of each year. So, Hamas is the first among equals of 12 fairly strong military factions fighting against Israel”, the ex-minister said.
In the next phase, Israel will probably start a ground operation that will be quite costly in terms of loss of lives for both Israel and civilians in the Gaza Strip, the former defense minister believes. The Gaza Strip is a densely populated territory, and the probability of collateral casualties among civilians is very high. Vitalie Marinuța added that Hamas has adapted, it knows the routes on which the Israeli army will enter, it also uses Iranian drones, the same drones that are sent to the Russian Federation. In the next period, with the advance of Israeli troops, it will be a confrontation of the urban fighting kind, where Hamas is quite skilled.
Vitalie Marinuța mentioned that both in relation to Ukraine and Israel, the attitude of the Moldovan authorities and the population is one of compassion. Moldovans are a peaceful nation and any violence is viewed by the vast majority of Moldovans as a serious matter.
The debate was the 291st installment of the “Political Culture” Series, run by IPN with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
