Although Hamas has recruited new members, many of them are young and uneducated, US sources of Reuters news agency state.
The extremist organization Hamas has recruited an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 new members to its ranks since the war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip began. This is reported by the Reuters news agency, referring to two of its sources in the US Congress.
According to Reuters, the sources have received their information from US intelligence.
According to the latest US intelligence estimates, a similar number of Hamas fighters have been killed in the fighting in the Gaza war.
A ceasefire between Hamas and Israel began last Sunday after 15 months of fighting.
Although Hamas has succeeded in recruiting new members, many of them are young and uneducated, and they are used for simple security tasks, the sources say.
Reuters reports that the US National Intelligence Service, DNI, has declined to comment on the information.
In mid-January, then the Minister of Foreign Affairs Antony Blinken said the United States believed that Hamas had managed to recruit nearly as many new fighters as the organization had lost in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, Blinken warned that the ingredients for a lasting rebellion and eternal war are brewing in Gaza.
According to Israeli estimates, around 20,000 Hamas fighters have died in Gaza.
A spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas Abu Ubaida reported in July that the organization has recruited thousands of new fighters.
The US administration has not publicly released its estimate of how many Hamas fighters are believed to have been killed since the start of the Gaza war. US officials have only estimated that the extremist organization has weakened significantly and lost thousands of people from its ranks.
Source: Reuters