Hamas has 20,000 armed terrorists, hundreds of rockets, IDF estimates

More than two years after the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7th, Hamas still has roughly 20,000 men under arms in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military estimates.

According to a report published Tuesday morning by Channel 14, a recent Israeli intelligence assessment of Hamas has determined that the terror group likely has about 20,000 armed terrorists divided into six brigades, which are further subdivided into 24 battalions.

Prior to October 7th, 2023, Hamas is believed to have had as many as 40,000 armed terrorists in Gaza, including 20,000 highly trained members of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing.

Hamas now is operating with roughly half as many men under arms as it had prior to October 7th, 2023, and its surviving 24 battalions are at varying levels of effectiveness.

In some cases, Hamas battalions in parts of Gaza have been forced to operate in isolation since the end of the previous ceasefire, in March.

The readiness and combat effectiveness of some Hamas battalions has likely further been degraded by the loss of experienced terrorists and their replacement by younger, poorly trained recruits.

The Israeli military estimates that after two years of war and thousands of rocket attacks, Hamas still has an arsenal of hundreds of rockets, with a small number of rocket launchers capable of firing short and medium-range projectiles.

Prior to the start of the war, estimates placed the number of rockets in Hamas’ arsenal in the tens of thousands.

In addition, the report said that Hamas likely has thousands of rocket-propelled grenades, along with thousands of bombs and thousands of AK-47 assault rifles.

Perhaps most concern, however, is the survival of much of Hamas’ underground infrastructure, with more than half of the group’s terror tunnels believed to still be intact.

The IDF intel assessment also determined that morale inside of Hamas appears to be low, following the elimination of much of the group’s senior leadership and a decline in Hamas’ command-and-control capabilities.

While Hamas’ overall offensive capabilities have been greatly diminished, the assessment found, the terror group still possesses some limited abilities to infiltrate into Israeli territory.