The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reports that Israeli military assessments indicate that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip has not lost its leaders, and the majority of its fighters remain alive, after 100 days of warfare.
According to the newspaper, military estimates show that the number of fighters in the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, on the eve of the October 7 attack, was around 30,000.
The Israeli army claims to have killed 9,000 fighters in the Gaza Strip, including about 50 leaders of the al-Qassam Brigades.
Last Sunday, the military spokesperson for the Brigades, Abu Ubaida, stated that the military achievements claimed by the enemy during its aggression on Gaza are nothing but ridiculed in our eyes, and the day will come when we prove the falsehood of these claims and their flaws.
In contrast, Abu Ubaida confirmed that the Israeli army has suffered heavy losses that are significantly greater than what was incurred on last October 7.
Guerrilla Warfare
Middle East Eye reported that sources close to Hamas’s political leadership said that the Israeli statistics in this respect “are sheer nonsense, and the losses among the al-Qassam Brigades were very minimal.”
One of the sources told the site that the total losses among al-Qassam Brigades’ ranks are less than 10%, explaining that “al-Qassam is a military movement with a centralized structure and a loose organizational ring, and we have not heard about the central forces suffering from serious losses.”
Another source said that “what is happening now in Gaza is guerrilla warfare, and mobilizing a force of thousands for this war is unnecessary and fraught with risks.”
He clarified that “in quick-strike operations, rapid teams of small numbers suffice; these teams are also small in terms of objectives and minimizing losses.”
Among the prominent military leaders that the Brigades announced as martyred during the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood were Ayman Nofal, a member of the General Military Council and commander of the Central Brigade in the al-Qassam Brigades, and Ahmed al-Ghandour, a member of the Military Council in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, commander of the North Brigade.
The movement also mourned “the martyred leaders: the martyred commander Wael Rajab, the martyred commander Raafat Salman, and the martyred commander Ayman Siyam.”
