US intelligence officials estimate Israel is nowhere close to its goal of eliminating Hamas after over three months of relentless airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza, The Wall Street Journal reported.
US intelligence agencies estimate between 20% and 30% of Hamas fighters have been killed. The US estimates the group has about 25,000-30,000 militants and a few thousand police and other types of forces. There are also other militant groups inside Gaza, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The report came after a member of Israel’s war cabinet, Gadi Eisenkot, suggested the goal of eradicating Hamas is unrealistic in a veiled swipe at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Whoever speaks of the absolute defeat [of Hamas in Gaza] and of it no longer having the will or the capability [to harm Israel], is not speaking the truth. That is why we should not tell tall tales,” said Eisenkot, a former head of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) whose son died fighting in Gaza in December.
“Today, the situation already in the Gaza Strip is that the goals of the war have not yet been achieved, but the war is already not happening. There is a reduced troop deployment, a different modus operandi,” Eisenkot added.
The Journal report said that Hamas was re-establishing its police force in some areas in northern Gaza where the Israeli military has withdrawn troops despite the massive destruction, demonstrating the resilience of Hamas’ forces.
Israel claims it has killed 9,000 Hamas fighters, which is on the higher end of the US intelligence estimate. The US also estimates that between 10,500 and 11,700 militants have been wounded, while Israel says the number of wounded is 16,000. The estimates are not confirmed since Hamas has not released casualty figures and denies that it’s taking heavy losses.
Hamas and other militant factions could be adding to their ranks as Israel has slaughtered so many civilians, making surviving family members more likely to join the resistance against the Israeli invasion. Top US military officials, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q, Brown, have warned that killing so many civilians will help Hamas recruit.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 25,000, including 9,600 children and 6,750 women. Eight thousand people are missing, presumed to be dead or dying under the rubble.
The number does not differentiate between Hamas fighters and civilians, but only about 35% of the dead are men. It’s also unclear if the ministry is recording every Hamas death, as many militants are likely being killed in strikes on underground facilities, leaving their bodies buried deep under rubble.
Wink, wink, yeah that’s the goal.
Isn’t that amazing? All the BS spouted by the usual talking heads about Israel vs Hamas when it’s only ever been Israel vs Palestinian civilians.
If Israel actually wanted to get rid of Hamas, they would not destroy infrastructure and create endless hiding space. They would sweep the whole strip, house by house, tunnel by tunnel, taking their time as needed and arresting/killing slowly and surely. That, in fact, is their responsibility as occupiers to provide security to the people under their occupation.
But, no, blitzkrieg is preferred because ethnic cleansing is the aim.
If the Zionists really wanted to get rid of Hamas they would permit the people of Gaza to return to the homes they were driven out of in ’48 and thereby robbing them of their constituents and raison d’être.
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There is a website devoted to that topic
https://www.plands.org/en/articles-speeches/articles/2019/when-the-denial-bubble-bursts-an-israeli-kibbutz-faces-the-nakba
“Hamas and other militant factions could be adding to their ranks as
Israel has slaughtered so many civilians, making surviving family
members more likely to join the resistance against the Israeli invasion.”
Children in Palestine and across the region are vowing revenge, as soon as they are old enough to be permitted to seek it. Renewed and amplified rage will be generational.
Obviously.
Children in Palestine and across the region are vowing revenge
Across the region and around the World.
https://youtube.com/shorts/dgaTffO_ldE?si=gtaSF_xbSch43TEK
In fact, the IDF may be losing the ground war: https://www.greanvillepost.com/2024/01/20/israel-has-lost-the-ground-war-in-gaza/
The IDF is definitely losing the ground war. Maybe 1,600 KIA, plus 12,500 disabled, and many more WIA. 151 Merkava MBTs claimed knocked-out. Beaucoup reports of IDF resfusniks.
Hence the blind rage attacks on women and children. Defeated militaries always vent their frustration in Blind Rage atrocities.
Oh, so Hamas vented its rage on women and children just as they started their atrocities,because they knew the price Gazans would pay. your statistics do not correlate with reality.
Your allegation doesn’t correlate with the evidence..
The IDF kill their own.
Do you think the Rebellion in Warsaw in 1943 would have resulted in the deaths of civilians if they could have gotten their hands on them. Furthermore, Israel was “killing the people of its favorite religion” in their “kill em all” policies including their own women and children.
To repeat :your beef is with the IDF who killed ~400 Israeli civilians that day plus another hundred plus Israeli paramilitaries
There are a bunch of lawsuits in Israel on this topic.
Too many innocent women and childrens deaths Jake. All religions have verses about how this is wrong.
Not may be… They are…!
Israel was not trying to defeat Hamas they were trying to kill as many Palestinians as they could under the veil of defeating Hamas.
Agreed. US Intel is stating the second premis but leaving the therefore (Israel’s intention is genocide) unspoken.
what was the objective of these fanatic fighters who launched their gonzo murder rampage ? Hamas hot heads obviously gave not a thought at all to the fate that would befall the people of Gaza in reprisals.
Yeah, look what they made Israel do.
Yeah, look what they made Israel do.
Yeah, they should have known the Israelis would mete out revenge 20 fold and many of those slaughtered on 10/7 were killed by the wonderful Israelis.
“Many”? Hamas isn’t that stupid to not know that any slaughter of civilians would be used to “justify” just what we’ve seen in Gaza since October 7. Any “resistance” group must have the people on its side so the “massacres” on October 7 were mostly (only?) Israeli ones to be pinned on Hamas.
Reprisals and collective punishment are big war crimes
How many widowers wirh dead children have joined the war against Israeli colonialists?
Likely thousands working in the underground workshops turning out weapons
How many families of hostages have joined the war against Bibi?
It seems like the IDF is better at killing its own civilians than it is at killing Hamas fighters:
https://w.ynet.co.il/yediot/7-days/time-of-darkness
The only question is are the hostages primary or secondary targets.
I wouldn’t want to be dependent on Bibi to get the hostages out because he doesn’t give a crap; nor does the trigger-happy IDF.
Yeah – lets add Iran, Lebanon. Syria and Hezbollah to the pack – take em all on Netanyahu. No good Zionist except a dead one.
Neither has any idea … Israel routinely calls all “fighting age men” (and that counted very broadly) members of Hamas … actual Hamas cadres trained to fight are very hard to get at.
9000 hamas dead is claimed by israel, bbc stated 98,000 buildings have been damaged. Even if israels exagerated numbers are to be believed, do the math.
Thats almost eleven buildings destroyed to kill one hamas militant, and thats even if the kill numbers by the one side doing the killing are to be believed,
This war is not about killing hamas militants
It seems to be more about leaders whos feet run quickly to shed the blood of innocents than anything else.
Top US military officials, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q, Brown, have warned that killing so many civilians will help Hamas recruit.
And the recruitment drive goes well beyond Gaza and more than just Palestinians… It’s global now.
There are more “militant” forces in Israel than in Gaza. It’s called the IDF.
Israel was founded and established by militants.
US Intelligence – a contradiction in terms.
The time has come for ALL of us to stop any further WAR potential and seriously utilize PEACE. We can ALL do it together. There is still hope. Just try dealing with things less emotionally and a bit more logically. What the hell is wrong with PEACE? Seriously. Let us make it a new day a new era, one filled with Peace and ALL good things for all of humanity. We are not totally lost, just yet. Think about it. What might we ALL accomplish by utilizing PEACE for all of humanity? What a glorious thing. Glorious!
I doubt your statement would materialize…! The next humanity life cycle after this one is vanished in 10,000 years may live in absolute peace if god creates them fresh with no memory of the past…!
As I like to say: “That ain’t gonna happen.”
My favorite quote from Percival Rose:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fBvqUoLUq8Q0_BbtKziGINpKxaCS8hGD/view?usp=drive_link
Psalm 11:5
The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,
And the one who loves violence His soul hates.
The time has come for ALL of us to stop any further WAR potential and seriously utilize PEACE. We can ALL do it together. There is still hope. Just try dealing with things less emotionally and a bit more logically. What the hell is wrong with PEACE? Seriously. Let us make it a new day a new era, one filled with Peace and ALL good things for all of humanity. We are not totally lost, just yet. Think about it. What might we ALL accomplish by utilizing PEACE for all of humanity? What a glorious thing. Glorious!
Peace is certainly a lot cheaper than war, even leaving aside the morality. Anyone who wants to argue otherwise is economically ignorant, as well as a moral ignoramus.
Now, that’s a Big Lie…! How many dead Hamas fighters have seen getting pulled out of the massive rubles that Israel has caused…?!
But Hamas is very close to defeat Israel…!
US intelligence has zero idea of how many Hamas have been killed or wounded. They’re getting all their intel directly from Israel, and as various ex-CIA personnel have repeatedly said, “indigenous intel” is usually unreliable.
Alastair Crooke has repeatedly pointed out that Hamas is deeply buried in bunkers and tunnel which even 2,000 pound bombs can not penetrate. They have all the earth-moving equipment they need underground to create more.
To distract from Israel’s – and the US’ – dismal failure in Gaza, Netanyahu and his freaks – including the US neocons and the Biden administration – are now pushing to expand the war into Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and eventually Syria, with the ultimate goal being Iran. Everyone knows this. No one says it except a few analysts like Crooke.
Crooke pointed out in his recent interview I linked to elsewhere here that there appears to be a decision by the Axis of Resistance to ratchet it up the fight, which is why the recent Iranian missile strikes and Iraqi militia strikes have become more severe.
He also pointed out that this whole thing has been planned for years by the Axis of Resistance and is being carefully coordinated between the main players, just as the Israeli genocide has been rather less carefully planned by the players on the other side.
When this is over, Israel will likely be gone as a state. As Crooke correctly stated, a “two-state solution” is impossible as long as there are Zionists in Israel. So the end result, as I am on record as predicting for many years, is either the total genocide or ethnic cleansing of Palestinians or the same for Jews in Israel. As long as the correct solution – one state imposed on Palestinians and Jews from the outside – is not implemented, there is no third option.
I read somewhere yesterday that even Josip Borrell let slip that imposing a solution on Israel from outside might be necessary.