Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Central Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth said Wednesday that the military now holds more than 60% of the Gaza Strip and that another October 7-style infiltration is “no longer possible,” even as Israel’s own security services estimate Hamas retains approximately 25,000 armed fighters.
Bluth made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony for the 99th Division, a reservist formation operating near the Gaza border. “More than 60% of the Strip is in our hands.
There is a security zone for the Gaza border communities held by two divisions and the finest IDF soldiers,” he said. He acknowledged Hamas “still remains a threat” despite the territorial gains.
The remarks followed a Security Cabinet briefing on Tuesday in which senior military officials told ministers the IDF controls between 67% and 70% of the Gaza Strip, The Jerusalem Post reported, citing two Israeli sources. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested a detailed map following the presentation.
The IDF’s footprint exceeds the 53% threshold set along the Yellow Line, a provisional boundary established under the U.S.-brokered hostage-release agreement, after Hamas refused to disarm under President Trump’s 20-point peace framework.
The confidence in territorial control, however, runs against a concurrent Israeli intelligence assessment. Hamas’s military wing still fields approximately 25,000 fighters, including roughly 2,500 members of its elite Nukhba unit, the commando force that executed the October 7, 2023 attack, according to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan.
🔴ELIMINATED: Ali Shamlakh & Nasser Louh, 2 Hamas Nukhba commanders who posed an immediate threat to IDF troops operating in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/KoFF81hwC5
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) July 15, 2026
Hamas was estimated at 35,000 fighters before those attacks, meaning the group has shed roughly 29% of its pre-war force.
The assessment also found Hamas has shifted to conducting executions of suspected collaborators and opposition figures in secret, using concealed locations including hospital basements to avoid public attention.
