Remaining Hamas forces estimated at 20,000 fighters, exceeding initial projections: report

[Michie]

Despite more than a year of military operations against the Hamas terrorist organization, Hamas has recruited between 12,000 and 23,000 new fighters, Israel’s Channel 12 news reported, and confirmedby The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday night.

According to the new report, Hamas currently commands a surprisingly high number of between 20,000 and 23,000 terrorist fighters if combined with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) forces present in the Gaza Strip. Until recently, The Jerusalem Post reported, terrorist forces were estimated to be reduced to about 12,000 fighters.

In February, then-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel had effectively neutralized 20,000 terrorists in Gaza — approximately two-thirds — of Hamas’ entire fighting force, estimated to be around 30,000. In addition, Since the start of the war in October 2023, more than 6,000 Gazans have been detained by the Israel Defense Forces. Of these, approximately 4,300 remain in custody, while 2,200 have been returned to Gaza after being considered less dangerous.

Continued below.

Remaining Hamas forces estimated at 20,000 fighters, exceeding initial projections: report

Despite more than a year of military operations against the Hamas terrorist organization, Hamas has recruited between 12,000 and 23,000 new fighters, Israel s Channel 12 news reported, and confirmed

www.christianpost.com

 

[Vambram]

You know, that does not sound like genocide has been committed against the Palestinians at all to me. In fact, maybe Hamas is even more dangerous than they were over a year ago?

 

[Michie]

You know, that does not sound like genocide has been committed against the Palestinians at all to me. In fact, maybe Hamas is even more dangerous than they were over a year ago?

I’m sure that’s a goal of theirs.

 

[Vanellus]

Hmm I don't think genocide means killing everybody in a particular group. And can you think of any reasons why people in Gaza want to join Hamas? Could it be because Israel has dropped so many bombs on this postage stamp of a place?

 

[Hazelelponi]

You know, that does not sound like genocide has been committed against the Palestinians at all to me. In fact, maybe Hamas is even more dangerous than they were over a year ago?

They came for the big war

Extremists will come for that. I believe they believe that the war is about on. With Syria falling and such people will be more exited and hopeful now. All their dreams are starting to come true.

This is prophecy being fulfilled in front of those who live in the hopes of fulfilling prophecy. They are happy, adding the fighters would be typical.

Israel will want to be quick, and we do have to worry about Syria.

Don't be too distraught, Trump is coming. Praise God.

They are as messianic as we are, it's just that they kill Jews (and Christians,) in their end times scenario.

 

[JosephZ]

Despite more than a year of military operations against the Hamas terrorist organization, Hamas has recruited between 12,000 and 23,000 new fighters, Israel’s Channel 12 news reported, and confirmedby The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday night.

According to the new report, Hamas currently commands a surprisingly high number of between 20,000 and 23,000 terrorist fighters if combined with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) forces present in the Gaza Strip.

This comes as no surprise to me. Below are some comments I made in the first few weeks following the October 7th terrorist attack against Israel.

October 12, 2023 "Israel is not going to be able to destroy Hamas militarily. It may drive Hamas underground for awhile, but they will reappear at some point in the future, perhaps under another name, but it will still be the same actors. The current approach is only going to exacerbate long-standing grievances between the Palestinians and Israel... With every Palestinian child, brother, sister, father, mother, or grandparent that is killed by Israeli forces, another potential terrorist is born."

October 23, 2023 "With the amount of destruction and the number of civilians killed, there will be a lot of people willing to join Hamas or even form splinter groups with the intent to avenge what Israel has done to their homes and their families."

October 26, 2023 "Hamas knew that carrying out such a horrific attack on Israel would result in an overwhelming show of force and a devastating bombing campaign in Gaza. Terrorist groups exist and thrive when there is discord, chaos, injustice, and conflict; leveling homes, killing civilians, and destroying infrastructure is exactly what Hamas wants Israel to do in Gaza."

Oct 29, 2023 "Unfortunately, Israel chose to take a path of revenge, showing little discrimination between Gazans and the terrorists rather than specifically targeting the terrorist responsible for the October 7th attack, targeting Hamas leaders, and protecting innocent civilians in the process. Israel's indiscriminate military response in Gaza so far has been a catastrophic failure and is going to have the opposite result of what they intended."



Root Causes of Terrorism: Myths, reality and ways forward (2005)

Perceived injustice has long been recognized a central factor in understanding violence generally and terrorism specifically, dating back to some of the earliest writings. In the mid-1970s, Hacker concluded that “remediable injustice is the basic motivation for terrorism”. A desire for revenge or vengeance is a common response to redress or remediate a wrong of injustice inflicted on another. It is not difficult to imagine that “one of the strongest motivations behind terrorism is vengeance, particularly the desire to avenge not oneself but others. Vengeance can be specific or diffuse, but it is an obsessive drive that is a powerful motive for violence toward others, especially Psychology of Terrorism people thought to be responsible for injustices”

Terrorist groups can endure military strikes, ‘targeted assassinations’ and other harsh measures not because the people and resources lost are not important, but because the violence works to increase the motivation of more members than it decreases, and works to attract more support and sympathy to the group than it frightens away.