Hamas is reportedly reconstituting its terror army in the Gaza Strip, recruiting up to thousands of new Palestinian youngsters into its torn ranks, according to a report published on Monday by The Wall Street Journal.
After a relatively long period of almost no rockets being launched from the Hamas-ruled territory, the terror group managed to fire some 20 rockets into Israel in the past 14 days.
Moreover, 10 Israeli soldiers fell in battle in the area of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza over the past week.
“We are in a situation where the pace at which Hamas is rebuilding itself is higher than the pace that the [Israel Defense Forces are] eradicating them,” Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli brigadier general, was quoted as saying by the WSJ.
“Mohammed Sinwar is managing everything,” he added, referring to the younger brother of the former Hamas leader and mastermind of the deadly October 7 attack Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by the IDF in October.
According to the report, after the death of the elder Sinwar, Hamas’s remaining leadership attempted to form a collective leadership council, but the organization’s members in Gaza opted to operate autonomously under Mohammed.
A senior Israeli official from the IDF’s Southern Command told the WSJ: “We are working hard to find him.”
Sinwar, who previously commanded the now largely dismantled Khan Younis Brigade, is alleged to have been the “brain” behind the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006, and to have worked to release his older brother from Israeli prison in exchange for Shalit in
The elder Sinwar was killed in an IDF strike in October 2024 (Picture: Getty)AFP via Getty Images
The report suggests that the young Sinwar, believed to be aged around 50, is “less understood by Israel’s security establishment” because, unlike his brother, he has not spent a long stretch in Israeli custody.
Political analysts have named him and Izz al-Din Haddad, Hamas’s military head in northern Gaza, as the current chiefs of the terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip, which, according to Israeli officials, has the final say over the ongoing ceasefire negotiations and the hostage-prisoner exchange deal.
“Hamas is in a very strong position to dictate its terms [in the negotiations],” Mohammed Sinwar told mediators in a written message that was shared with the WSJ.
In another message he wrote: “If it is not a comprehensive deal that ends the sufferings of all Gazans and justifies their blood and sacrifices, Hamas will continue its fight.”
The report further emphasized that while Hamas’s new recruits are largely young and militarily inexperienced, they could be capable of carrying out “hit and run” attacks in small cells using guns and anti-tank missiles, which require less military training.
Hamas is able to persuade them to join by promising them and their families food, aid and medical care, largely seized humanitarian aid that enters the Gaza Strip, the report added.
Most of the recruitment efforts take place at funerals and prayer gatherings, according to the WSJ.
