Hamas recruiting thousands of new terrorists, rebuilding missile arsenal

IDF intelligence shows Hamas is using the ongoing ceasefire to rebuild its ranks with a massive recruiting drive while also building new bombs and anti-tank missiles.

By World Israel News Staff

Senior officers in the IDF Intelligence Directorate and Southern Command have warned Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir that Hamas is rapidly restoring its military capabilities in the Gaza Strip and preparing for another round of fighting with Israel, according to a report by the national broadcaster Kan.

The warning, delivered to Zamir last week, described a broad Hamas recovery effort that includes renewed weapons production, recruitment, training and attempts to rebuild underground infrastructure damaged during the war.

According to the assessment, Hamas is producing hundreds of explosive devices and anti-tank weapons each month while recruiting thousands of new operatives, mainly young men ages 18 to 22. The group has also reportedly resumed training for members of its elite Nukhba force, whose fighters played a central role in the October 7 massacre.

Israeli officers also warned that Hamas is working to smuggle advanced drones and encrypted communications equipment into Gaza from Sinai while repairing and rebuilding tunnel networks across the Strip.

The officers told Zamir that Hamas remains dominant inside Gaza and faces no serious internal challenge to its rule.

“Hamas is strong on the ground, no one is threatening it, and the organization is not willing to give up control in Gaza,” the officers were quoted as saying.

The warning comes amid growing Israeli concern that the current diplomatic framework and restrictions on renewed large-scale combat are allowing Hamas to regroup.

According to the reports, the IDF position relayed to US officials is that Israel must return to fighting in Gaza, but Washington opposes such a move and wants to preserve the current agreement while continuing to advance President Donald Trump’s broader Gaza plan and the work of the so-called Peace Council.

The reports also said a large anti-Hamas protest that had been expected in Gaza on Friday failed to materialize after Hamas deployed armed men across the Strip without interference.

The assessment echoes concerns voiced by IDF officers in recent months that Hamas has used pauses in fighting to rearm and re-entrench itself. In January, officers warned that “stagnation serves Hamas,” saying troops were under tight rules of engagement even when Hamas operatives were visible beyond the Israeli deployment line.

“Troops are under strict orders to only engage if they are in immediate danger, even when Hamas operatives are visible just beyond the yellow concrete barriers,” IDF officers told Ynet at the time.

Israeli officers have also questioned whether all tunnels previously struck or sealed by the military were fully rendered unusable. Some engineering officials have argued that partial demolition of tunnels, sealing selected shafts or destroying key junctions does not always prevent Hamas from repairing or reusing parts of the underground network.

Separately, reports said a senior Hamas delegation led by Mousa Abu Marzouk met Russian officials in Moscow on June 10 to discuss provisions of the road map dealing with the removal and storage of weapons in Gaza.

A Palestinian source familiar with the talks said Hamas gave conditional, in-principle approval to the clause but demanded changes, including that implementation be handled exclusively by a Palestinian “national committee” for Gaza and that any international stabilization force operate only in direct coordination with Palestinian factions.

Hamas also reportedly demanded guarantees that any weapons removed from Gaza would not be handed to Israel or any outside party.

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