On Monday, August 5, 2024, CNN reported that Hamas has rebuilt some of its military capabilities, nearly half of its brigades, in northern and central Gaza, despite 11 months having passed since the onset of the Israeli war on Gaza. This assessment comes from analyses conducted by the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War.
Despite repeated statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel is nearing its declared goal of eradicating Hamas and destroying its military capabilities, an analysis of Hamas’s military operations since October 7, based on Israeli military data, field footage, and interviews with experts and eyewitnesses, casts doubt on these claims, according to CNN.
The network’s report indicates that an analysis of Hamas’s activities up to July shows that the group has effectively utilized its dwindling resources on the ground.
Several units have returned to key areas previously cleared by the Israeli army after intense battles and heavy bombardment, according to the new analyses. Hamas managed to salvage remnants of its brigades in an attempt to replenish its forces.
Brian Carter, Director of the Middle East Division at the Critical Threats Project (CTP), who led the joint research with the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on Hamas’s patterns and Israeli military activity, said, “The Israelis claim they have cleared a place, but they have not fully cleared these areas, and they have not defeated these fighters at all.”
Carter added, “Hamas is prepared to fight and wants to fight.”
Hamas’s Revival
CNN cited American military experts saying that Israel’s continued aggressive campaign and lack of a post-war plan have contributed to Hamas’s resurgence.
Evidence of this renewed activity has emerged in key flashpoints.
In the Jabalia refugee camp, Israel reported in May facing “fierce resistance” from three Hamas brigades, despite the area being devastated by a three-month-long bombing campaign last fall. According to analyses, Israel conducted four incursions into the Zaitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.
Retired U.S. Army Colonel Peter Mansour, who helped oversee the deployment of 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq in 2007, commented, “If Hamas’s brigades had been largely destroyed, Israeli forces would not still be fighting.”
Mansour added, “The fact that they are still in Gaza and still trying to root out elements of Hamas brigades shows me that Prime Minister Netanyahu is wrong. Hamas’s ability to reform its fighting forces has not diminished.”
On January 7 of this year, the Israeli army announced that it had dismantled Hamas’s command structure in northern Gaza.
However, shortly thereafter, reports emerged of attacks targeting Israeli patrols in the eastern parts of Gaza City. Videos in the following weeks showed Hamas fighters emerging from the rubble, likely from the extensive network of tunnels intersecting the strip.
Carter from the Critical Threats Project stated, “We began to observe Hamas’s revival less than a week after Israel withdrew from northern Gaza in January. We saw this effect continuing throughout the strip… This was the critical process undertaken by Hamas brigades.”
Recruitment of Thousands of Fighters
Hamas has also boasted about recruiting “thousands” of new fighters since the war began.
Emily Harding, Director of the Intelligence, National Security, and Technology Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., said, “Israel has certainly killed many Hamas fighters, but they are still there, and they will recruit more.”
Analyses by the Institute for the Study of War and the Center for the Study of Terrorism indicate that Hamas’s rebuilding of its brigades occurred in two distinct ways.
Some units of the Al-Qassam Brigades reorganized by merging severely weakened cells to form effective fighting brigades, while other units resumed activity by recruiting new fighters and manufacturing new weapons from explosives left behind by Israeli forces.
