Israel has managed to completely destroy only a small minority of Hamas's battalions in the Gaza Strip, claims a report by the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project, the Institute for the Study of War and CNN .
According to the report, which is based on Israeli and Hamas military statements, footage from the ground, and interviews with experts and eyewitnesses, only three out of the 24 battalions were considered combat-ineffective.
The report added that 13 battalions have only been degraded, and are only able to conduct sporadic, and largely unsuccessful guerrilla-style attacks. At the same time, eight of them are still fully combat-effective with the capability to carry out missions against Israeli soldiers on the ground in Gaza.
According to the report, the central Gaza battalions are the most intact. The reason for this, according to Israeli sources ,is that the IDF has not adequately struck them since they are believed to be holding many Israeli hostages.
The report also noted that nearly half (7 out of 16) of Hamas’s battalions in the northern and central Gaza Strip have managed to rebuild at least some of their capabilities despite Israel's offensive.