Hamas battalions are alive and well, contrary to what we’ve been told

As of July 1, only 3 of Hamas’ 24 military battalions have been destroyed by the IDF.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Hamas is rebuilding its fighting capabilities in north and central Gaza even as the IDF concentrates on clearing out terrorists from the southern part of the coastal enclave, CNN reported Monday.

Its conclusion is based on an investigation carried out by the media outlet together with two think tanks, the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project (CTP) and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

They analyzed Hamas’ military moves, war footage, statements by both sides’ forces, and interviews with eyewitnesses as well as military experts, through the end of June.

According to the report, as of July 1, only 3 of Hamas’ 24 military battalions have been destroyed by the IDF, while 13 are classified as “degraded,” to the extent that they can only conduct sporadic guerrilla-style attacks, and are largely unproductive.

Eight remain “combat effective” according to ISW and CTP, meaning that they still use “sophisticated tactics and more advanced weapons systems.”

Of the eight, three are allegedly in northern Gaza, though not at its tip, which would most directly threaten Israel’s south-central region. Two others are in the center, and three are in the south.

The ones in the center have retained the most military capability, said the report, according to Israeli sources as well, who explained that the IDF has not used its full might against them yet due to the fear that they are holding many of the remaining 115 hostages Hamas abducted in its October 7 invasion of Israel.

The report stated that seven of the damaged battalions, all in northern Gaza, have managed to reconstitute themselves at least to some extent.

One unnamed Israeli source said Hamas’ claim of securing “thousands” of new recruits may be true, at least in part, but said that command-level fighters were a different story, as these are “not easy to replace.”

Hamas may also have trouble training its new troops properly, as their training sites have mostly been leveled by the IDF, said the report.

Israel has claimed that it has killed almost half of the terrorists’ command corps, and about half of its fighting forces are either dead or wounded and off the battlefield.

Very few of the most senior echelon are left after successful IDF airstrikes, although Hamas’ Gazan leader, Yahya Sinwar, is still alive.

A large issue was made in the report of IDF troops re-entering places it had conquered earlier in the war.

“The Israelis would say that they cleared a place, but they haven’t fully cleared these areas, they haven’t defeated these fighters at all,” said Brian Carter, Middle East portfolio manager for CTP, who led the research group.

The IDF has successfully returned to places like the Jabalya refugee camp and neighborhoods of Gaza City to clear out terrorists who returned months after the IDF’s original incursion.

These forays have led to hundreds more terrorists being killed, and multiple weapons sites and tunnels destroyed.

It is currently doing the same in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have framed the new rounds of battles in old territory in a positive light of putting ever more pressure on Hamas, another interviewee, retired US Army Col. Peter Mansoor also took a very pessimistic view of Israel’s need to return to these Gazan cities.

“If the Hamas battalions were largely destroyed, Israeli forces wouldn’t still be fighting,” he said.

“The fact that they’re still in Gaza, still trying to rout out elements of the Hamas battalions shows me that Prime Minister Netanyahu is wrong,” he added. “The ability of Hamas to reconstitute its fighting forces is undiminished.”

Netanyahu had assured a joint session of Congress two weeks ago that Israel’s “victory is in sight.”

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