JERUSALEM AND GAZA CITY — Hamas fighters are scattered in cells across the Gaza Strip, launching rockets, ambushing Israeli soldiers, and vanishing into tunnels and bunkers to escape airstrikes on a pummeled terrain of shattered buildings and bodies curled and crumpled in the streets.
As the Israeli incursion rumbles into a 17th day, witnesses in Gaza and analysts portray the Islamic militant group as battered but defiant. Its walkie-talkie networks bleep and scratch through alleys, and its fighters, many in civilian clothes, move with the stealth of urban guerrillas, booby-trapping neighborhoods, communicating through e-mails, text messages and whispers in marketplaces.
But although Hamas' militant wing had been preparing for an Israeli assault for years, the enemy's firepower has been devastating and some analysts say Gaza can't endure much more destruction. Government buildings have been razed and more than 1 million residents in the seaside enclave are without electricity. The Israel Defense Forces say that at least 300 militants have been killed, others are defecting and the number of rockets launched into Israel in recent days has declined significantly.
The Israeli media quoted an army official Sunday as saying that a high-ranking Hamas commander, Amir Mansi, was killed by Israeli fire when he tried to launch mortar rounds by himself after his fighters refused to help him. Israel has prevented international journalists from entering Gaza, and battlefield reports cannot be independently confirmed.
Hamas denies any loss of resolve. A senior official, who asked not to be named, said Sunday that only 30 of the group's fighters had been killed. "Hamas fighters are calm and don't want to be drawn toward Israeli troops," the official said. "We're waiting for the Israelis to advance toward our strongholds, then we'll fight. Hamas' power has not been harmed."
On Saturday night, as Israeli troops and tanks moved along the southwest edge of Gaza City, a witness spotted Hamas fighters, who hadn't been seen for much of the day, preparing to attack with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. The witness reported that the militants were organized and communicated in codes, and that later ambulance and civil defense workers responded quickly to areas that had been set aflame by Israeli shelling in fierce fighting.
