‘Hamas Has Grown In Sophistication And Capabilities’

NEW DELHI: No doubt remains that the terrorist group Hamas pulled off a coup in its attack on southern Israel earlier last month. Answering questions on The Gist, Ramanathan Kumar, former special secretary R&AW, believes that Hamas had, possibly over a prolonged period, studied Israel’s security posture opposite Gaza and pinpointed major weaknesses. When they attacked on Oct. 7, they were able to disable or destroy all Israeli sensors and communication links. Even more interesting, Hamas used hand-held analog radios of an earlier time during the attack and eschewed all digital communication that could have been easily intercepted. It’s not clear why Israel’s impressive human intelligence network failed in this critical hour. Kumar says there are important lessons for India. Hamas born in 1987, and the Lashkar-e-Toiba born in 1990, draw inspiration from the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and both organisations see no alternative to jihad to win their wars, whether against Israel or in Kashmir respectively. Tune in for more in this conversation with Ramanathan Kumar, former special secretary R&AW.