Middle East & Africa | Gaza’s future

Hamas talks a big game but is in chaos

Look beyond the latest bravado and brutality and it is bitterly split

Hamas fighters secure an area in a square before handing over four Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team in Gaza City on January 25, 2025
Where does he go from here?Photograph: AFP
|DUBAI AND JERUSALEM

EVEN before the fighting stopped, Hamas was keen to show it had survived. Uniformed militants emerged from hiding hours after the Islamist group agreed to a ceasefire with Israel. Once the truce began, Hamas was quick to deploy police on the streets and gunmen to guard aid convoys. The release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, in exchange for Israeli hostages, has been a fillip for its popularity.

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