U.S. and Israeli officials indicated today, Thursday, that "Hamas has lost about half of its fighters during the ongoing eight-month war and has begun relying on hit-and-run tactics to thwart Israel's attempts to control the Gaza Strip." According to three senior U.S. officials familiar with battlefield developments, the number of Hamas fighters has declined to between 9,000 and 12,000, down from earlier U.S. estimates that placed the figure between 20,000 and 25,000 before the conflict began.
In a statement to Reuters, one of the officials said, "Hamas fighters now largely avoid engaging in protracted skirmishes as Israeli forces push further into the city of Rafah in the southern part of the territory, instead relying on ambushes and the use of improvised explosives." The U.S. officials, who requested to remain unnamed due to the sensitivity of the matter, stated that "such tactics could help Hamas continue fighting for months, supported by weapons smuggled into Gaza through tunnels and other arms recovered from unexploded ordnance or seized from Israeli forces."
