A defiant Hamas displays its authority in Gaza, posing a challenge to Netanyahu

The Hamas fighters stood on the Gaza boundary once considered crucial for keeping them at bay.

Eight heavily armed men, wearing seemingly spotless military uniforms and Hamas’ distinctive green headbands, stood atop concrete blocks at the Netzarim corridor on Monday, welcoming the tens of thousands of Gazans returning to what remained of their homes in the north. With their AK-47s strapped to their vests and their faces covered, the fighters took selfies, shook hands and handed water to passers-by.

Witnessed and recorded by an NBC News crew in Gaza, the fighters’ presence at a crossing deemed vital for keeping Hamas from going into the north of Gaza raises big questions about one of Israel’s stated objectives in launching the war: eliminate the militant group behind the worst terrorist attack in Israeli history.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to destroy Hamas after it killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage in its surprise Oct. 7, 2023, attack. More recently he softened the objective, to destroy the militants’ grip on power.

“We set three war goals: The first war goal was to destroy Hamas’s military and governing capabilities,” he said on Sept. 4. “The second was to free our hostages. And the third was to ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.”

Israel Defense Forces did not respond to requests for comment on what these sorts of appearances mean, while Netanyahu’s office declined to comment.

A ceasefire was reached after Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other senior militants were killed by Israeli forces in October, and after more than 47,000 Palestinians — most of them women and children, according to local officials  — were killed in the Israeli assault that followed the Oct. 7 attack.

Israeli attacks have devastated Gaza, destroying or damaging more than 90% of its housing units and driven much of the population into squalid tent camps, according to the United Nations.

‘Perpetual war’

The scene at the Netzarim corridor on Saturday was similar to the one in Palestine Square in Gaza City earlier in the week, when four Israeli hostages stood atop a stage surrounded by hundreds of masked Hamas gunmen. A poster emblazoned with “Zionism will not win” hung on a platform below them.

Blanketed in Palestinian flags, the square exploded with cheers the moment the hostages were handed over. Music blared as children clambered on the stage table, where Red Cross representatives had signed handover documents just minutes before.

“It was a Hollywood production. It was very orderly,” said Gershon Baskin, an Israeli who has acted as a mediator with Hamas for decades. “It looked like there’s this group that’s really in control of everything.”

According to U.S. assessments, Hamas has recruited almost as many militants as it lost in the war.

“Each time Israel completes its military operations and pulls back, Hamas militants regroup and re-emerge, because there’s nothing else to fill the void,” former Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the Atlantic Council this month. “That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war.”

And just as missiles stopped whistling over Gaza on the morning of Jan. 19, the first day of the ceasefire, Hamas fighters emerged in force. With their faces concealed and waving their green flags, they thrust their rifles skyward.

“It was a message to the West Bank, that we are a national power for the Palestinian people, not just a fundamentalist group,” Ronni Shaked, a research fellow at the Harry S. Truman Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said. “To Israel, they said, we are still at war.”

Hamas’ signaling comes as the exceptionally fragile ceasefire is presenting daily challenges to both sides.

On Saturday, Israel accused Hamas of violating the agreement by not releasing the civilian hostage Arbel Yehud and blocked the Netzarim corridor, stopping displaced Palestinians from returning north.

“There is profound mistrust that exists between both sides,” said Ghada Soliman, a Middle East analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “It may collapse at any moment.”

Eventually, meditators resolved the dispute and Israel allowed access on Monday.

Convoys of fighters

As the ceasefire unfolds, Hamas has resumed everyday operations

Convoys of fighters made their way through Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Jan. 20, according to video shot by NBC News in Gaza that showed crowds chanting slogans, “We are your men, Mohammad Deif,” in reference to the top commander of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, who Israel says it killed in an airstrike last year.

Nearby, with his whistle and deep blue police uniform, Abdul Wahab Abdul Raouf Samour waved through traffic.

He was among the many officers who had been called back to work, he said.

“We received orders from the Ministry of Interior to wear our police uniforms and take to the streets to assist citizens and manage traffic in the area,” Samour, 40, told the NBC News crew.

Truckloads of humanitarian aid, carrying everything from food and bottled water to commercial goods, has crawled into Khan Younis. As the trucks rattled through the dusty streets, they were at times seen being escorted by convoys of gunmen, or with men standing atop the cargo to prevent stealing.

Some Qassam gunmen were also stationed in the streets to ensure the aid’s safe delivery.

The Palestinian Police announced on Jan. 22 that it was working “to establish security and public order, support citizens, protect their property, and restore aspects of life in the sector.”

It also urged people to report on emergency hotlines any suspicious objects or unexploded bombs as  “teams specialized in explosives engineering” began clearing areas.

“I had hidden my uniform for a day like this, and today is my greatest day,” Samour said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com