FORBES
Lessons Learned From The Gaza War
Ilan Berman
October 14, 2025

…While Israel unquestionably dominated the military battlefield, Hamas masterfully controlled the larger narrative surrounding the conflict. The Islamist group, in the words of one expert, successfully managed to “delete itself” from coverage of – and discourse about – the war, despite its role in precipitating it through a campaign of atrocities on Oct. 7, 2023. It did so through an extensive, and extremely effective, campaign of information manipulation – one that was spearheaded by the group’s chief propagandist and spokesman, Abu Obeida, until his elimination in late August. Its extent, revealed not long ago in a report on Israel’s Galei Tzahal radio and subsequently covered widely in the Israeli press, was formidable, encompassing some 1,500 dedicated operatives, “propaganda command centers” embedded with every Hamas brigade and division, extensive messaging for every Hamas combat protocol, and even a “psychological warfare plan” directed at shaping the decision-making of Israeli officials.  READ MORE