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Hamas has launched a mass recruitment campaign in the Gaza Strip and shifted to guerrilla warfare as it faces heavy losses and limited resources in its war with Israel, according to a Saudi media report published Sunday.
The Saudi-owned Al-Hadath network, citing unnamed sources, reported that the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, is recruiting as many as 30,000 new fighters. The report said the move is part of a new military strategy relying on guerrilla tactics, as most of the new recruits lack training in conventional combat. It also noted that the group has suffered substantial losses to its weapons arsenal, particularly drones and long-range rockets.
The shift comes as fighting continues to rage across the Gaza Strip, following the collapse of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on March 18.
On Sunday, Palestinian sources reported one person was killed by Israeli artillery fire in the Al-Mawasi area northwest of Rafah, in southern Gaza. Qatar-based Al Jazeera later reported exchanges of fire between Hamas terrorists and Israeli forces in the eastern part of the Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City.
The previous evening, intense Israeli strikes were reported in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza and in Khan Younis to the south. The Israeli military said troops from the Givati Brigade, working with the Yahalom elite combat engineering unit and under the command of the 143rd Division, destroyed a booby-trapped underground tunnel hundreds of meters long in Rafah's Shaboura neighborhood. The IDF also said numerous weapons were seized and destroyed, including a tunnel shaft that contained a cache of explosives.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said 44 people were killed and 145 wounded in the past 24 hours. Since the ceasefire collapsed in March, the ministry reports 1,827 people have been killed and 4,828 injured. Since the war began on Oct. 7, the reported death toll in Gaza has reached 51,201, with 116,869 wounded.
Despite the new recruitment campaign, Hamas is reportedly facing a severe financial crisis. According to a report published Thursday by The Wall Street Journal, the group has been unable to pay salaries to its fighters since the resumption of hostilities. The report cited a series of targeted Israeli strikes and the halting of humanitarian aid—aid that Arab, Israeli and Western sources say Hamas has regularly siphoned off and sold at a profit—as contributing factors to the group's depleted finances.
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Later the same day, Hamas rejected an Israeli proposal for a partial hostage deal. In a statement, the group said, “We will not accept partial agreements that Netanyahu and his government use as political cover to continue the war.” Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official leading the group’s negotiating team, said Hamas is prepared to immediately negotiate a comprehensive deal that would include the release of all hostages in exchange for a mutually agreed number of Palestinian prisoners.