In Saudi Arabia, there is also worry that the war in Gaza could revitalize Islamism. Official opinion puts the blame squarely on Hamas’s shoulders. Haisam Hassanein writes:

It is common these days in the Arab world to hear that Riyadh isn’t supporting the Palestinians enough, a comment on the noticeable shift in Saudi official views of Hamas since its October 7 invasion of Israel. The government-funded media describe Hamas operatives killed by Israel as terrorists. Local clerics state that Hamas is committing not “jihad” but a “devilish act.”

Saudi disapproval of the October 7 atrocities began immediately after the massacre. When the Hamas leader Khaled Meshal appeared on the Saudi state-owned [news channel] al-Arabiya, an anchor asked him, “Would you apologize for what was done to Israeli civilians on October 7?” When he refused to give a clear answer, the anchor pressed him: “You say this is legitimate resistance in your view, but what the people saw on Western TV screens were transgressions by Hamas against civilians.”

The Islamization of the conflict is also a major Saudi concern. Pro-regime intellectuals blame Hamas for the radicalization sweeping the region.

Ron Ben-Yishai, reporting from a visit to IDF forces in the Gaza Strip, analyzes the state of the fighting, and “the persistent challenge of eradicating an entrenched enemy in a complex urban terrain.”

Hamas, sensing the war’s end, is mounting a final effort to inflict casualties. The IDF now controls 65 percent of Gaza’s territory operationally, with observation, fire dominance, and relative freedom of movement, alongside systematic tunnel destruction. . . . Major P, a reserve company commander, says, “It’s frustrating to hear at home that we’re stagnating. The public doesn’t get that if we stop, Hamas will recover.”

Senior IDF officers cite two reasons for the slow progress: meticulous care to protect hostages, requiring cautious movement and constant intelligence gathering, and avoiding heavy losses, with 22 soldiers killed since June.

Two-and-a-half of Hamas’s five brigades have been dismantled, yet a new hostage deal and IDF withdrawal could allow Hamas to regroup. . . . Hamas is at its lowest military and governing point since its founding, reduced to a fragmented guerrilla force. Yet, without complete disarmament and infrastructure destruction, it could resurge as a threat in years.

At the same time, Ben-Yishai observes, not everything hangs on the IDF:

According to the Southern Command chief Major General Yaron Finkelman, the IDF is close to completing its objectives. In classical military terms, “defeat” means the enemy surrenders—but with a jihadist organization, the benchmark is its ability to operate against Israel.

Despite [the IDF’s] battlefield successes, the broader strategic outcome—especially regarding the hostages—now hinges on decisions from the political leadership. “We’ve done our part,” said a senior officer. “We’ve reached a crossroads where the government must decide where it wants to go—both on the hostage issue and on Gaza’s future.”