no they can't be destroyed, at least not by only military means.
Can Hamas really be completely 'eliminated'?
Cathrin Schaer
12/11/2023December 11, 2023
The short answer, military analysts say, is "no." The long answer is more complex. Israel's campaign may degrade the group's capabilities but defeating its ideology is likely impossible without a political solution.
Despite this, most analysts say that it won't be possible to get rid of Hamas altogether, the main reason being that Hamas is more than just a militant organization.
Isreal "would love to eradicate Hamas as an institution, as a political, religious and cultural structure, and as a military structure," Rashid Khalidi, a professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University in New York told the Spanish newspaper El Pais, in late October.
"I don't think they can do the first two things," he argued. "Whether they kill all their leaders, whether they kill all the armed militants, Hamas will remain as a political force, whether the Israelis occupy Gaza or leave. So destroying Hamas as a political institution, destroying Hamas as an idea, is impossible."
