Hamas Militarily Returns to Gaza with Thousands of New Recruits

Israeli Channel 12 reports that Hamas is making a significant military return to the Gaza Strip by enlisting new forces.

The channel, in its report, noted, “Hamas’ ranks now comprise between 20,000 and 23,000 fighters, in collaboration with forces from the Islamic Jihad Movement,” highlighting that “the rate of new fighter recruitment by Hamas exceeds the rate at which fighters are neutralized or reduced.”

According to the data, the number of active fighters currently in Gaza, from various groups, ranges between 20,000 and 23,000.

The data revealed that there are 9,000 organized fighters active throughout the sector, half in the Northern Division and the other half in the Southern Division. In addition to these, there are between 7,000 and 10,000 additional fighters scattered throughout the Gaza Strip, operating in an unorganized manner, with about 4,000 fighters from the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, and other organizations across Gaza.

Military officials stated, “Hamas knows how to recruit activists to this day using humanitarian aid as a lure, and with money, which is hard to refuse given the situation in the sector.”

The Israeli military last announced that it killed between 17,000 and 20,000 fighters from Hamas and Jihad during the war. The newspaper indicated that over the past 15 months, there has been a gap of several thousand between the Israeli military and Netanyahu’s data, casting doubt on those estimates.

Previously, the Jerusalem Post reported that it obtained information confirming a significant resurgence of Hamas in the Gaza Strip through the recruitment of new elements.

The Jerusalem Post pointed out that the recent information it received suggests that the numbers are closer to about 12,000 fighters.

The newspaper added that the significant discrepancy in the numbers becomes clearer when compared with previous figures announced by the Israeli military or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The occupation army previously claimed to have killed between 17,000 and 20,000 fighters from Hamas and Jihad since the war began, with discrepancies between the military’s and Netanyahu’s estimates throughout the war period, making some of these estimates questionable, according to the newspaper.

Moreover, the newspaper reported that it learned the Israeli military detained more than 6,000 people from Gaza during the war, with at least 4,300 people still in captivity, while at most 2,200 people were returned to Gaza as they were considered less dangerous.

Considering that at the start of the war, the Israeli military stated that the total number of Hamas forces was 25,000 individuals, the figures seem implausible unless it is considered that Hamas nearly completely recruited a new force to replace its entire old force, according to the newspaper.