According to The Wall Street Journal, Israel has successfully eliminated between 20-30% of Hamas militants since the beginning of the war on October 7. The report cites calculations made by US intelligence.
It is noted that prior to the conflict, Hamas had an estimated 25-30 thousand members in its armed wing. The American publication emphasizes that Israel is far from completely eradicating all armed supporters of Hamas, as the movement still possesses enough ammunition to continue launching attacks on Israel and Israeli forces in Gaza for several more months.
Earlier, Hamas had expressed its desire for a new deal regarding prisoner exchange and negotiations with Israel.
The situation in the Middle East escalated on October 7 when thousands of armed Hamas supporters infiltrated Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the country was in a state of war.
Israel’s objective in its counter-operation was to repel the attack, liberate over 200 hostages, including foreigners, and destroy Hamas. From the first day of the operation, Israel carried out mass rocket strikes on the Gaza Strip as part of achieving these goals. Additionally, the Israeli National Security Council decided to halt the supply of water, food, goods, electricity, and fuel to the region.
On November 22, Israel and Hamas agreed to a humanitarian pause and the release of some hostages. The ceasefire agreement officially came into effect on November 24 and ended on the morning of December 1. During the week of the ceasefire, Hamas released 110 captive hostages.
Previously, Netanyahu stated that the war between Israel and Hamas would last until 2025.
