Among the many striking images of the three Israeli hostages being released Sunday, the video of dozens of armed Hamas fighters in full combat gear at the handover location in Gaza City stands out.
The men, who surrounded the women as they were turned over to the Red Cross, were sporting almost new-looking combat fatigues and matching black balaclavas, with green bandanas featuring the Hamas logo tied around their head.
They also arrived in a convoy of several white vehicles that appeared clean and barely damaged, standing out from the mass destruction of buildings around them.
While it was impossible to count exact numbers, there appeared to be dozens of gunmen surrounding the convoy, with many others scattered among the chaotic crowd that had come to watch.
It was the first major public appearance in months for the militant group that was responsible for the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel that killed some 1,200 people.
The attack ignited 15 months of war and a devastating Israeli bombing campaign that has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children.
Hamas choreography
The choreography at the handover site appeared to be well thought-out and designed to send messages to Hamas’s adversaries as well as Palestinians, say those who’ve studied Israel’s closest adversary.
“They’re attempting to show control,” said Irwin Mansdorf, with the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
“It’s their major achievement that even after all their losses and casualties, they still maintain control of Gaza. That’s not a small thing,” he told CBC News in Jerusalem.
Despite the fact that the names of Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher were late in being turned over to Israel, prompting a delay in implementing the ceasefire, the group appeared well prepared for their handover.
Each of the women — who were held against their will for 470 days — were presented with what Israeli media have called a “gift bag” featuring the logo of Hamas’s militant wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
Inside, there were reportedly photographs of the women in captivity, a small map of Gaza and a pendant. A Hamas videographer snapped images of them holding the bags before they sped off, and later published a video on social media.
While Hamas made an effort during the only other hostage release in November 2023 to portray the Israelis as guests rather than captives, this event was significantly more elaborate.
“It clearly was not meant for Israeli consumption,” said Mansdorf, suggesting that Hamas is attempting to show Palestinians and others who sympathize with the group that the militants are compassionate actors, behaving in legitimate ways.
The women were also given printed release certificates by Hamas, as if to validate their detention in Gaza.
Mansdorf says when set against the near-collapse of basic services for hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza, the fact that Hamas was able to put the event together at all is remarkable.
“Where did they get a print shop to print [the certificates] up? Where did they go to the store to get [stationery] to put these certificates in, where they get cleaners to clean their laundry?”
Strength unclear
The exact strength of the militant group is uncertain.
A year ago, Israeli officials said roughly 18,000 Hamas militants were killed in its attacks, out of possibly 25,000 it had at the start of the war. They now put the number of killed closer to 20,000 but Hamas says Israel has vastly exaggerated the numbers.
Haaretz, a left-leaning Israeli publication that’s often highly critical of the government, has accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of killing civilians in Gaza indiscriminately, and then claiming the victims belonged to Hamas.
Of late, U.S. officials with the former Biden administration have also indicated they believe that, while Hamas has lost thousands of fighters, the group has also been able to replace those losses with new recruits, fuelled by resentment to Israel’s occupation of the territory.
Officials with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government concede the militant group remains a potent military force.
“We didn’t eliminate Hamas, but we definitely turned Hamas from a full army with many capabilities into a guerrilla army,” said Sharren Haskel, a Canadian-born Israeli member of the Knesset, currently serving as the country’s deputy minister of foreign affairs.
She said the demonstration around the hostage exchange was a propaganda effort by Hamas and that, due to the ceasefire, members of the group clearly now feel confident that they can “dare to come out of their underground holes.”
Whether the stop in fighting amounts to temporary truce or a more permanent ceasefire, Hamas appears to quickly be taking steps to reassert its presence in Gaza and to thwart any efforts by other groups to take over.
In addition to the hostage exchange, policemen in Hamas uniforms were also seen back on Gaza’s streets again, albeit in small numbers.
“They are trying to show power,” said Haskel.
Post-war plan
Netanyhau has stated repeatedly that his aim is to drive Hamas out of Gaza, but he has also refused to say who he believes should run the territory.
Hamas’s rival, the Palestinian Authority (PA), headed by the Fatah party, controls the occupied West Bank and is headquartered in Ramallah.
The PA has declared it is ready and wants to assume full responsibility of Gaza, but both Netanyahu and Hamas have rebuffed that option.
Notably, the just-signed ceasefire between Hamas and Israel contains no official role for the PA.
The two rivals met at the end of 2024 try to find a common way forward but the process now appears stalled.
In addition to its military wing, Hamas also controls Gaza’s civilian government, with its officials running key services from the health department to garbage collection to the police.
And while many in Gaza hold Hamas responsible for the devastation Israel inflicted on the territory, it’s rare to hear public criticism of the regime.
Nonetheless, Hamas’s public re-emergence on Day 1 of the ceasefire has been widely discussed in the territory.
“We didn’t expect that,” said Gaza resident Alaa Awda in Khan Younis. “[They had] new vehicles and new clothes, as if they were in hotels, not tunnels.”
“That’s something shocking for our people — not just Israeli people — for Palestinian people also.”
Mohamed Abdou, who also lives in Khan Younis, said after Hamas militants virtually disappeared from Gaza’s streets for months, everyone is surprised to suddenly see them back.
“We never thought that Hamas would come back with this image and this strength,” he said. “After what we saw [Sunday], we realized that Hamas is still here and still strong.”
And perhaps not just in Gaza.
In the aftermath of the release of 90 Palestinian detainees by Israel early Monday morning, there were huge celebrations in the occupied West Bank communities where the buses dropped them off.
Conspicuous among the cheering supporters were people waving the Hamas flag and voicing support for the militants — developments which will no doubt alarm the PA which is concerned about growing support for Hamas in the West Bank.
Mansdorf says Hamas is seizing the moment to try to portray the ceasefire as a victory, despite the enormous cost of Palestinian lives and immense destruction in the territory.
“Is it a victory? They are acting as if it is.”
