According to Israeli army estimates, Hamas in Gaza has not lost its leaders, and the majority of its fighters are still alive.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth cited Israeli army estimates indicating that the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip has not lost its leaders, and that the majority of its fighters are still alive after 100 days of war.
The newspaper claimed that about 9,000 fighters have been killed by the Israeli army during battles in Gaza, including nearly 50 commanders.
The Brigades numbered about 30,000 fighters “on the eve of the fighting – and the army’s data shows that about 21,000 are still alive,” the Israeli newspaper added, citing Israeli army estimates.
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Abu Obeida, the spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades – the military wing of Hamas – said in a televised speech on Sunday that “the alleged achievements that the enemy announces (…) are a mockery to us, and the day will come when we prove that these claims are false and defective.”
Abu Obeida also reiterated that Palestinian Resistance fighters “have inflicted, and continue to inflict, severe losses and heavy costs on them, exceeding and surpassing what the occupation suffered on October 7.”
Al-Jazeera quoted media reports as saying that, according to sources close to the political leadership of Hamas, “the total losses among the ranks of the Qassam Brigades are less than 10 percent.”
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Among the most prominent military commanders whose killing was announced by the Qassam Brigades during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation are Ayman Nofal – a member of the General Military Council and commander of the Central Brigade, and Ahmed Al-Ghandour, a member of the Military Council and commander of the Northern Brigade.
The movement also mourned the “martyr leaders, the martyr leader Wael Rajab, the martyr leader Raafat Salman, and the martyr leader Ayman Siam.”
According to the latest official toll, the number of Israeli officers and soldiers killed in the ranks of the army since the beginning of the war hit 523, including 189 since the start of the ground war in Gaza.
The Palestinian Resistance, however, stated that the estimates provided by the Israeli army are “unreal,” and that the numbers of casualties are much higher.
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On Friday, the Israeli newspaper Walla reported that 4,000 Israeli soldiers have become disabled since the beginning of the war on Gaza on October 7 and estimates suggest that the number could rise to 30,000.
The site also said that the Israeli army “does not provide all data about the wounded to the public, for fear that it will lower people’s morale.”
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 24,100 Palestinians have been killed, and 60,834 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7. Palestinian and international estimates say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
