Hamas, Claiming Victory Over Israel, Is Stuck in Same Old Cycle

Seven months after a war with Israel, hundreds are dead but otherwise little has changed. It’s a familiar pattern.

GAZA CITY — At a beachfront hotel in Gaza City this fall, hundreds of Gaza civic leaders crowded into a Hamas-sponsored conference to hear claims of an imminent Hamas victory over Israel.

“The state of Israel will be history,” the conference director, Kanaan Abed, said in a speech broadcast across the strip. “Palestinians outside Palestine: Prepare your papers. You will return to Palestine after the liberation.”

The reality, however, was nearly the opposite.