The Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza is two to three years away from becoming a real army and reaching the same capabilities of Hizbullah today, according to Defense Ministry sources quoted by the Hebrew newspaper Yediot Aharonot.
The sources also warned the range of improved Kassam rockets has grown to the point that Ashdod soon can be targeted, confirming warnings several weeks ago from Opposition Leader Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu.
Hamas terrorists are camouflaging their infrastructure using the same strategy employed by Hizbullah in the six years after the IDF withdrew from Lebanon and until the Second Lebanon War broke out last year.
Like Hizbullah, Hamas has amassed weapons in underground bunkers that were dug below bushes and houses, leaving them undetected from the air. Hamas also has built an underground network of tunnels for smuggling weapons and transporting terrorists.
"They dig holes in the roads, place powerful explosive devices inside and cover them with asphalt, so that it's impossible to detect them," according to Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrahi, head of the IDF Logistics Branch.
IDF reservists who returned from a tour of duty in Gaza earlier this month reported similar news, noting that Hamas terrorists were using new skills they acquired at Hizbullah and Iranian advanced training camps this past year.
An officer with a paratroop unit said, "The people we killed weren't terrorists, they were soldiers. In a direct confrontation, the IDF [still] has superiority over them, but in all parameters – training, equipment quality, operational discipline – we are facing an army, not gangs," he said.
"The fingerprints of Iran and Hizbullah are all over it," confirmed a veteran intelligence officer. "The Palestinians never looked like this."