The American magazine The Atlantic quoted an Israeli official as saying that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) still has around 20,000 fighters, adding that the scale of weapons in the West Bank is “beyond imagination.” The official noted: “We are lucky things have not escalated further” in the West Bank, while admitting that settler violence against Palestinians has sharply increased — rising from fewer than 90 incidents per month at the beginning of 2025 to more than 200 incidents.
The magazine also cited former Israeli Air Force General Nimrod Sheffer, who explained that Israel’s strategy in Gaza is to prolong the war. According to him, this strategy “serves Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who is wanted by the International Criminal Court — and may serve the coalition, but it does not serve anyone else.” Sheffer further stated: “If Hezbollah had carried out the October 7 attack, our army would still be in Beirut today.”
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been carrying out what international observers describe as a genocidal campaign in Gaza, marked by mass killings, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, in defiance of international calls and International Court of Justice orders to halt its actions. The ongoing onslaught has resulted in 61,499 Palestinian deaths, 153,575 injuries, and over 9,000 missing persons, in addition to hundreds of thousands displaced, many of whom face famine that has already claimed numerous lives, including those of dozens of children.
Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 1,015 Palestinians, injured nearly 7,000, and arrested more than 18,500, according to Palestinian reports.
