Desperate Hamas resorts to suicide bombings
After Yahya Sinwar, the man responsible for launching the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, took full control of Hamas over the summer, Arab intelligence officials say he sent a directive to a senior operative: Now is the time to revive suicide bombings.
A few days later, a bespectacled Palestinian entered Tel Aviv with a blue backpack loaded with explosives. Although the bomb exploded before the man reached his target, killing only him, the attack sent an unmistakable message.
“What a blessing it is that my bones become shrapnel that blow apart the usurping Zionist Jews,” said the attacker, Ja’far Sa’d Saeed Muna, a member of Hamas’s armed wing, in a video released later by the group.
The U.S.-designated terrorist organization has long embraced militancy, but Hamas largely discontinued suicide attacks two decades ago. At the time, a spate of them had spread terror in Israel’s streets but failed to extract concessions from its government, and some Hamas leaders feared such attacks would make the group a political pariah.
Despite misgivings within Hamas, no one was willing to speak out against the practice once Sinwar was at the helm of the group, according to the Arab intelligence officials, who said they communicate regularly with Hamas leaders, including Sinwar.
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The October 7 attacks were a mass murder operation that targeted Israeli non-combatants. It led to a reprisal that destroyed much of Hamas's military. Those losses made Hamas a much weaker threat and probably led to the suicide operations as a last resort to continue attacks on Israel. I doubt these will be any more effective.
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