Senior Hamas commander says group’s control over Gaza has ‘completely collapsed’

A senior Hamas commander quoted in a report published Sunday said that the terror group has lost control of around 80 percent of the Gaza Strip and that there is “barely anything left” of its military structure, after 21 months of intense fighting with the Israeli military. The report, which was published by BBC News, was based on a number of voice messages sent to the British outlet from a “senior officer” in Hamas, identified only as a lieutenant colonel who was wounded in October 2023.

“Let’s be realistic here — there’s barely anything left of the security structure. Most of the leadership, about 95%, are now dead… The active figures have all been killed,” the senior officer reportedly said. “So really, what’s stopping Israel from continuing this war?” The commander claimed that the war “has to continue until the end. 

All the conditions are aligned: Israel has the upper hand, the world is silent, the Arab regimes are silent, criminal gangs are everywhere, society is collapsing.” He said since the end of the latest ceasefire in March, Hamas’s security control in Gaza “has completely collapsed. Totally gone. There’s no control anywhere,” pointing to extensive looting of a Hamas’s complex with no intervention. (Read More)