Oh? How do American intelligence numbers compare to what Israel’s intelligence services hve discovered?
[IsraelTimes] Sources acknowledge Palestinian terror group’s success in enlisting new members but say many of the recruits are young and untrained; Israel estimates some 20,000 terrorists killed"We need more flaming hoops!"
The Paleostinian terror group Hamas
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
has recruited between 10,000 and 15,000 members since the start of its war with Israel, according to two congressional sources briefed on US intelligence, suggesting the Iran-backed fighters could remain a persistent threat to Israel.
The intelligence indicates a similar number of Hamas fighters have been killed during that period, the sources said. The latest official US estimates have not been previously reported.
Hamas and Israel began a ceasefire on Sunday after 15 months of a conflict that began with the terror group’s devastating attack on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
Strip and inflamed the Middle East.
The sources briefed on the intelligence, which was included in a series of updates from US intelligence agencies in the final weeks of the Biden administration, said that while Hamas has successfully recruited new members, many are young and untrained and are being used for simple security purposes.
The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.
On January 14, then-president Joe
The Big GuyBiden
...46th president of the U.S.
We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created ... by the — you know — you know, the thing...
’s secretary of state Antony Blinken
...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm...said the United States believed Hamas had recruited almost as many fighters as it had lost in the Paleostinian enclave, cautioning that this was a "recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war."
He did not provide further details about the assessment, but Israeli figures have put the total terrorist corpse count in Gaza at around 20,000.
"Each time Israel completes its military operations and pulls back, Hamas snuffies regroup and reemerge because there’s nothing else to fill the void," Blinken said.
Asked for comment, a Hamas official said he was checking with the relevant parties in the group. Hamas armed wing front man Abu Obeida said in July that the terrorist organization had been able to recruit thousands of new fighters.
In the days since the ceasefire, Hamas has shown itself to be deeply entrenched in Gaza despite Israel’s vow to destroy the terror group. The territory’s Hamas-run administration has moved quickly to reimpose security measures and to begin restoring basic services to parts of the enclave, much of which has been reduced to wasteland in the fighting.
Since the start of the war, American officials have not said publicly how many fighters Washington believes Hamas has lost, only noting that the group has been significantly degraded and has likely lost thousands.
WARNINGS OF A CONTINUED THREAT
US officials have issued similar warnings since the Hamas-led terror onslaught against Israel in October 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and more than 251 taken hostage. More than 46,000 people have been killed in the Israeli assault that followed, according to Hamas health authorities, whose unverified figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
At a congressional hearing in March 2024, then-director of national intelligence Avril Haines said that the war in Gaza would have a "generational impact on terrorism" and that the crisis had already "galvanized violence by a range of actors around the world."
Gathering exact data on Hamas is notoriously difficult because of a lack of verifiable intelligence from inside Gaza and because the terror group’s recruitment and training efforts are fluid. But official US figures show that prior to October 7, 2023, Hamas had anywhere between 20,000 and 25,000 fighters.
Asked on Wednesday about Blinken’s comments, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon acknowledged Hamas’s recruitment efforts but played down the threat.
"We know that Hamas recruits youngsters," Danon said. "But even if they recruit youngsters, they don’t have the weapons or the training facilities. So basically, yes, you can incite those youngsters against Israel, but they cannot become a terrorist, because you cannot equip them with weapons or rockets."
Following the ceasefire, Israeli troops have begun to move back from some of their positions inside Gaza. The second phase of the ceasefire deal could bring about a permanent end to the fighting.
The terms of that phase still need to be negotiated.
In his resignation speech on Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Israel’s military chief, said Hamas had been severely damaged and that most of the group’s military commanders had been killed. But he said Hamas had not been eliminated and the Israel Defense Forces would continue to fight to further dismantle the terror organization.
One of the most difficult issues involved in negotiating the next phases is postwar Gaza’s governance. Some Israeli officials say they won’t accept Hamas staying in power. Hamas so far has not given ground.
Newly inaugurated President Donald Trump
...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried....
’s national security adviser Mike Waltz said on Sunday that Hamas will never govern Gaza and if it reneges on the deal, Washington will support Israel "in doing what it has to do."
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Herzi Halevi 01/22/2025 IDF launches major counterterror raid in West Bank’s Jenin, expected to last days
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Herzi Halevi 01/19/2025 Israeli army begins operation for ceasefire in Gaza