Why Hamas Keeps Fighting, and Losing

<p>After 11 days of fighting over the skies of Israel and Gaza, a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel was announced last week.</p><p>The conflict wrought devastation in Gaza. Yet Hamas’s leaders took to television and declared victory.</p><p>We look at where the organization comes from and their objectives to understand why it has, for decades, engaged in battles it knows it can’t win.</p><p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/ben-hubbard?smid=pc-thedaily">Ben Hubbard</a>, the Beirut bureau chief for The New York Times. </p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/signup/NTTD?smid=pc-thedaily">Sign up here</a> to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/the-daily?module=inline">subscribe to our newsletter</a>. </p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>After the cease-fire, in addition to relief, some Gaza residents felt a sense of déjà vu, having survived several recent wars with Israel. After each war, it<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/world/middleeast/gaza-war-ceasefire-israel.html"> takes years for Gaza to recover</a>.</li><li>Israel’s military said its airstrikes killed dozens of senior Hamas operatives and destroyed critical military infrastructure. But<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-war-ceasefire.html"> victory is hard to measure</a>.</li></ul><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily</a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.</p>