2025-07-15
5 分钟The Economist. Hello, Rosie Bloor here,
co-host of The Intelligence, our daily news and current affairs podcast.
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There are few matters on which Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister,
agrees with Al Jazeera, the Qatari satellite TV channel.
Yet both consider Hamas, the Islamic movement that controls the Gaza Strip, exceptionally resilient.
After 21 months of fighting there, Mr Netanyahu insists the group has yet to be defeated.
Meanwhile,
Al Jazeera still runs back-to-back bulletins lauding Hamas's heroics in the fight against Israel.
Yet according to multiple testimonies from Gaza, Hamas is on its last legs.
Its military and political leadership has been almost entirely eliminated.
Its government no longer governs.
Gangs and looters are filling the vacuum.
Its popular base has collapsed, with just 6% of Gaza still said to support it.
Foreign backers are retreating.
Nearly four decades after its founding, the group is nearing its lowest ebb.
Little remains of the leadership,
whose exile Israel demands as a condition for a permanent ceasefire.