The American Wall Street Journal quoted an informed source as saying that the American intelligence community doubts Israel's ability to achieve its declared military goal of eliminating the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

The source added that the Israeli military campaign on the Gaza Strip could harm Hamas and its infrastructure, but it would not be able to eliminate Hamas' ideology.

A congressional official confirmed to the newspaper that the most realistic goal is to buy Israel security for years but not forever, without further details.

The newspaper also quoted Israeli officials as saying that Hamas leaders may maintain the core of their forces despite the intense attacks.

An Israeli officer added that the more complex stages of the war may not have begun yet, as the more the Israeli army penetrates, the more difficult the battle becomes.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, announced on Friday that it had targeted eight Israeli army tanks in Gaza with “Al-Yassin 105” missiles, in addition to targeting a gathering of Israeli forces northwest of the city. While the Israeli army admitted the killing of 356 soldiers and officers, 39 of them were killed since the start of the ground operation in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army also announced that its forces killed about 30 Palestinian militants in ground operations within 24 hours.

The Israeli army claimed that its forces stormed Hamas military sites and took control of buildings containing missiles, drones, maps and mortar shells, in addition to storming the office of Muhammad al-Sinwar, brother of the leader of the Hamas movement in Gaza, Yahya al-Sinwar.

For 35 days, the Israeli occupation army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, “during which it destroyed residential neighborhoods on top of their residents,” causing the death of 11,78 Palestinians, including 4,506 children, 3,027 women, and 678 elderly people, in addition to about 27,500 injured. Also, 183 Palestinians were martyred, and 2,280 were arrested in the West Bank, according to official sources.

Source: Al Jazeera + Wall Street Journal