A senior Hamas security officer has said that the Palestinian terrorist group has lost about 80% of its control over Gaza.
The lieutenant colonel told the BBC that Hamas’ command and control system had collapsed as a result of Israeli air raids that have also largely affected the group’s leadership.
The officer has stepped away from his duties for health reasons after being wounded in the first week of the war, which began after Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said that ‘there’s barely anything left of [Hamas’] security structure’, adding that about 95 per cent of the group’s leadership have been killed.
‘The active figures have all been killed…So really, what’s stopping Israel from continuing the war’.
He added that there is now a security vacuum and that there is ‘no control anywhere’, noting there are now criminal gangs ‘everywhere.’
The officer’s remarks come after Israel’s then-defence minister Yoav Gallant declared that ‘Hamas as a military formation no longer exists’ and that it was engaged in guerrilla tactics.
According to the former Hamas official, the group tried to regroup during the 57-day ceasefire with Israel earlier this year, but after the truce disintegrated in March, Israel has targeted the group’s remaining structures.
It comes after US-led ceasefire efforts in Gaza appeared to gain momentum on Saturday after nearly 21 months of war, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday will send a negotiating team to talks in Qatar.
The statement also asserted that Hamas was seeking ‘unacceptable’ changes to the proposal US President Donald Trump has pushed for an agreement and will host Netanyahu at the White House on Monday to discuss a deal.
‘There are 20 hostages that are alive, 30 dead. I am determined, we are determined, to bring them all back.
‘And we will also be determined to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel,’ Netanyahu said before departing, emphasizing the goal of eliminating Hamas’ military and governing power.
Inside Gaza, Israeli airstrikes killed 41 Palestinians and another 10 were killed while seeking food aid, hospital officials in the embattled enclave told The Associated Press.
Two American aid workers with the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation were also injured in an attack at a food distribution site, which the organisation blamed on Hamas, without providing evidence.
The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.
Israel responded with an offensive that has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
