Hamas has prepared for a long, protracted war in the Gaza Strip and believes it can stop Israel’s advance long enough to agree to a ceasefire, reports Reuters citing sources close to the organization’s leadership.

Hamas, which rules Gaza, has stockpiled weapons, rockets, food and medical supplies and is confident its thousands of fighters can survive for months in a city with tunnels deep under the Palestinian enclave, fighting Israeli forces with guerilla tactics cities.

According to Reuters, Hamas believes that international pressure on Israel to end the siegeas civilian casualties mount, will lead to a cease-fire and eventually to negotiations leading to mutual concessions such as the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages, the sources said.

The group has made clear to the US and Israel, in indirect Qatar-brokered hostage negotiations, that it wants the release of prisoners in exchange for the release of the hostages.

Hamas ‘fully prepared’

Adeeb Ziadeh, a Palestinian international affairs expert at Qatar University who has studied Hamas, says the group must have had a longer-term plan to launch its attack on Israel.

“Those who carried out the October 7 attack with this level of skill, this level of expertise, precision and intensity, were prepared for a long battle. It is not possible for Hamas to engage in such an attack without being fully prepared,” Ziadeh told Reuters.

Washington estimates that Hamas will try to lock Israeli forces into fighting inside Gaza to inflict heavy enough military casualties and thereby weaken Israeli public support for a protracted conflictReuters reports.

Israeli officials have stressed to their American counterparts, however, that they are prepared to confront Hamas’s guerrilla tactics as well as withstand international criticism of their attack, Reuters sources said. Whether the country has the ability to eliminate Hamas or simply seriously minimize its capability remains an open question.

Hamas has approx 40,000 fighters, according to sources in the organization. They can move around the enclave using a vast web of fortified tunnels, hundreds of kilometers long and up to 80 meters deep, built over many years.