Weakened Hamas still dangerous, Israel warns

JERUSALEM – The military power of Hamas has been weakened and its political leadership is divided over plans for a possible cease-fire, but an Israeli intelligence official said Tuesday that the radical group remains dangerous, with 15,000 fighters, tunnels, and a sophisticated arsenal of rockets and antitank weapons.

The senior official’s assessment was delivered in a news briefing on a day when Israeli ground forces and Hamas guerrillas battled in a southeastern neighborhood of high-rise apartments in Gaza City. Civilians fled as Israeli units, backed by shelling from warships, edged deeper into the city but appeared to stop short of Hamas strongholds.

Israel’s push into the Tel Hawwa neighborhood of Gaza City – about a mile from the city center – increased the pressure on Hamas fighters and on humanitarian groups and hospitals coping with rising numbers of homeless and wounded Palestinians. More than 971 Gazans have been killed and 4,418 wounded in 18 days of fighting, according to the United Nations.

The Israeli intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of security concerns, did not underestimate Hamas but indicated that the group had been overwhelmed by 18 days of bombardment. The official said Hamas is not significantly tapping into its caches of antitank and anti-aircraft missiles but is occasionally using suicide bombers as spearheads for its combat missions.

Hamas officials have said its fighters are resilient and that its military wing is choosing when it will engage Israeli forces.

But the intelligence official said that Israeli air strikes had destroyed much of Hamas’ rocket-launching capabilities. Two weeks ago, Hamas was firing about 80 missiles a day into southern Israel; that has dropped to about 20 in recent days, and only two rockets were reported fired Tuesday.

Tuesday’s military action came as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia renewed calls for an immediate cease-fire – a prospect that has remained elusive since the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip began Dec. 27.

A Hamas delegation met with Egyptian officials on Tuesday, but there was no word of a breakthrough over key points: Demands by Hamas that Israel withdraw its forces and lift its 18-month blockade, and Israeli conditions that Hamas stop firing rockets and that Egypt do more to destroy the group’s arms-smuggling network.