In a lengthy article on Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that as the Israeli military begins to gradually withdraw from Gaza, the gains it has made against Hamas are significant but incomplete, Israeli military and security officials say, and are threatened by the lack of a postwar strategy.

“Although intense ground fighting continues in Khan Yunis and other parts of the southern Gaza Strip, the Israeli army says it is moving away from large-scale bombing and moving to a more focused campaign of targeted raids and assassinations, with the aim of eliminating Hamas’ military leadership,” according to the newspaper.

The newspaper documents how the Israeli war on Gaza destroyed most of the northern part of the Strip and killed more than 25,000 people, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 70% of whom were women and children.

The Washington Post spoke with seven current and former Israeli officials and reservists about the progress of the war in Gaza and its ultimate goals. Most spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military strategy.

“The war has damaged Hamas as a terrorist entity, but this is not a three-month mission,” a military official said.

The Israeli occupation army claims that at least 9,000 Palestinian fighters have been killed (without showing evidence), less than a third of the 30,000 Hamas fighters who are estimated to still be in control of the fighting. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, His senior aides are at large. The movement does not publish figures on the number of people killed in the war, but a Hamas official denied the Israeli figures.

The newspaper quotes a Hamas official (on condition that his name not be mentioned) as saying, “I think the Israelis are trying to embellish their achievements.”

The newspaper claims that Hamas's relatively long-range rocket launches from Gaza, which numbered in the thousands at the beginning of the war, have largely stopped. Israel says it destroyed thousands of weapons stockpiles, missile production sites and tunnel corridors over three months of door-to-door battles. But without a "day after" strategy, officials say, these achievements could be fleeting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to insist that the complete elimination of Hamas remains the goal of the war. “It is not just about striking Hamas, and this is not another round with Hamas – this (should be) a complete victory,” he said, but since the beginning of the war, “military commanders have been adopting a more realistic view, believing that under the current circumstances, it is possible to weaken The group (Hamas), however, cannot be destroyed. As Israel begins to reduce its operations in Gaza, this undeclared tension has begun to spread to public opinion,” according to the newspaper.

Gadi Eisenkot, the former army commander whose son was killed in Gaza last month, accused Netanyahu in a recent interview of telling “tall tales” about the war.

Eisenkot said: “No strategic achievement has been reached; we have not demolished Hamas.”

At least 21 Israeli soldiers were killed on Monday when Hamas militants fired a shell at a tank near two buildings slated for demolition, the Israeli military said, setting off the explosives — the deadliest incident for Israeli forces in Gaza. Since the start of the war, 221 soldiers have been killed.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters on Tuesday that the number of troops and the intensity of fighting in Gaza will continue to fluctuate.

“More reservists will be needed on all battlefields, so the IDF is working by freeing up forces and focusing our activities,” he said.

Israeli officials did not reveal the number of forces still in Gaza and the number of forces that had withdrawn. There are still at least three combat brigades on the ground, according to an IDF statement issued earlier this month. The Golani Brigade, a special infantry unit, withdrew from Shujaiya in Gaza City last month.

Some soldiers have been repositioned along the northern border with Lebanon, where the threat of a broader war looms; thousands more have returned home, to their jobs and families, which the government hopes will help revive Israel's war-torn economy.

On the Lebanese border, the Israelis fear a new kind of war with Hezbollah

The military official said the ground and air operation in Gaza effectively dismantled the majority of the five Hamas brigades – made up of 24 battalions, each containing up to 1,400 fighters. The official said that more than 100 leaders were killed.

Israeli officials claim that 17 of Hamas's 24 battalions, mostly in the central and northern parts of the Strip, have been disabled to the point that they more closely resemble small groups of fighters than proper military units. But officials admit there are thousands of militants.

“It changes from structure to pile, but the pile can still resist you,” the dean said. General Assaf Orion, a reserve officer who was on active duty after the Hamas attacks. He added: "This does not mean that Hamas is dead, but they certainly cannot do what they did on October 7."

The Hamas tunnel network turned out to be much more extensive than the IDF's previous estimates, extending more than 300 miles in the south alone, according to the military official. The Israeli army has discovered more than 5,600 tunnels, according to a former security official familiar with the intelligence, and many have been destroyed. But the scale of the underground network, built secretly over many years, means it is unlikely to be completely dismantled.

The former security official said the majority of Israeli assassinations in Gaza targeted low- and mid-ranking members of Hamas – part of a strategy to strip the group of a “critical mass” of fighters.

He said the Israeli army had “become rigid,” and was tasked with maintaining control over quiet areas rather than trying to gain more territory.

In northern and central Gaza, the pace of war has slowed enough to enable some Palestinians to return to their destroyed neighborhoods, although rebuilding is a distant hope. In the south, more than a million displaced people are gathering near the Egyptian border. Relief organizations warn that diseases are spreading, and that more than 90% of Gaza's population do not have enough food.

“However, small cells of Hamas fighters, hidden in tunnels and building rubble, still pose a deadly threat,” the newspaper says. “After a barrage of rockets were fired from the Strip last week towards the southern city of Netivot, Israeli forces were able to quickly surround the launch site in the center of Gaza and killed several fighters, according to a military official familiar with the operation — foreshadowing the kind of missile raids and targeted strikes that will likely characterize the next phase of the war.

But how can Israel prevent a weakened Hamas from rebuilding? This remains an open and confusing question for military leaders. The entity that ultimately rules Gaza — whether it is the Palestinian Authority, as the United States calls for, or an international force, an idea floated by some Israeli officials — will determine whether IDF forces can operate from permanent locations inside the Strip or respond only from bases across borders.

Opinion polls show that remaining inside would be tantamount to reoccupying Gaza, a goal supported by far-right politicians but strongly opposed by Washington and most Israelis. A long-term security presence, which would make Israel responsible for Palestinian civilians and expose troops to constant threats, was dismissed as a “nightmare scenario” by most of the security establishment, according to the military source.