Hamas leaders Mohammed Deif (left), Marwan Issa (center) and Yahya Sinwar (right). Issa was killed in an airstrike this month.
Israel may not be able to destroy Hamas despite five months of intense fighting in the Gaza Strip, intelligence officials have admitted.
The main goal of the Gaza invasion is failing. as international support turns against Israel, sources warn.
Israel believes it has dismantled Hamas's core command and control structure in central and northern Gaza, but pockets of «guerrilla» resistance remain.
Senior officials told The Telegraph that four of Hamas's original 24 battalions remained completely intact. intact after fleeing to safety in Rafah, where Israel is preparing to invade.
But Israel believes it may be too late to find and destroy them. as the US has “turned its back on Israel.”
Pressure on Israel
The US this week allowed the passage of a UN resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire after months of supporting Israel's right to self-defense. There was growing dissatisfaction in the White House with the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
“If you had asked me this a month ago, I would definitely have said yes [we can destroy Hamas] because at that time the Americans supported Israel,” an Israeli intelligence source said. They suggested that this estimate had now changed.
Hamas is focused on surviving until the summer, they warned, when the US election campaign begins and support for Israel is likely to decline further.
< p>“The pressure is increasing on Israel to reach some kind of agreement, which means Hamas can survive. Both Hamas and the Iranians are playing on this,” the source said.
Hamas Forces Scattered
The latest assessments are that the IDF is engaging in battle with resurgent Hamas units in parts of the Gaza Strip that they previously cleared. Fighting has raged since March 18 at Al-Shifa Hospital, which Israel first attacked in December.
Months of urban fighting have driven Hamas out of its main strongholds, and Israeli intelligence says there have also been more than 11,000 terrorists. up to 15 senior commanders.
Hamas forces, once thought to number more than 35,000, are now scattered. Eighteen battalions are believed to have been «significantly damaged.»
Hamas no longer operates as an army. Its units have been destroyed and they have no central command and control,” said an IDF source in the Southern Command.
“Each unit operates independently, doing what it thinks it should do, but there is no center management, which could move units,” they added.
“They are in a very bad position, but having said that, they have gone over to the old style of guerrilla warfare. They act like guerrilla terrorists, and when you operate this way, you don't need infrastructure and structures, you go from house to house, hide, use RPGs [rocket-propelled grenade launchers], grenades and disappear.< /p>
“They lost their commanders, so they act truly independently. Many of them give up. Many have lost the motivation and will to fight, and you can see this in the significant drop in the number of Israeli casualties. Hamas is not fighting.”
Senior leadership in Rafah
What is left of the senior leadership team is now in Rafah, the only remaining urban center that has not been reached by IDF ground teams. Marwan Issa, the third Hamas commander, was confirmed by Israel on Tuesday.
Communication between Yahya Sinwar, the group's leader, and the remaining pockets of resistance relied on hand-delivered correspondence from the early weeks of the invasion.
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