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Is Hamas Nearing the Breaking Point?
(Foreign Affairs) Benedetta Berti and Zack Gold - Since the end of the summer 2014 Gaza war, Egypt has increased the political and economic pressure on Hamas. The moves are in line with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's crackdown on Islamist opposition at home. To neutralize the Muslim Brotherhood at home, Egypt's Gaza policy aims to undermine the group's potential allies elsewhere, including by breaking Hamas' hold on the Strip. Since last summer's war, the Egyptian government has restricted outflows of goods and people from Gaza through the Rafah crossing, and is creating a new buffer zone, destroying homes, buildings, and agricultural land within a kilometer of the border. Under Mubarak, Cairo had provided Gaza a hidden lifeline with hundreds of tunnels stretched under the Egypt-Gaza border. Almost six months after the war, postwar reconstruction is proceeding at a glacial pace.