I don't think Hamas is an asset to Israel. In the 90s, maybe 00s sure, but that hasn't been the case for a good while. Hamas and other Palestinian armed resistance are the reason Israel keeps losing international support. It's more obvious now, but this has been the case for a while now; the scale of destruction Israel causes in Gaza inevitably makes the news, and every time that happens Israel loses just a little bit of popular support in the West. The state of support for Israel we're seeing now isn't just because of the unprecedented scale of Israel's atrocities, but also because even on October 7th there was a significant number of people who knew that Israel is up to no good due to their repeated "escapades" in Gaza. This is why organizations like Amnesty International consider Israel an Apartheid state.
Meanwhile look at the West Bank; they're ruled under brutal military law, held up in checkpoints and subjected to horrific levels of abuse and humiliation (including being forced to strip naked so they be "examined"), are repeatedly attacked by the IDF for reason or no reason and to top it off they're being driven from their homes every day, but how often do they make the news? Even now the situation in the West Bank is being reported on as an accessory to the Gaza "war".
What I wanna say is: Hamas is a very big part of the reason Israel is losing international support, and since international support is their lifeline this is really bad for them. If Hamas and other such organizations didn't exist and Gaza was like the West Bank the Palestinian cause would be in a much worse place now (though whether that's worth the lives being lost is another story).