Israel prepares new Gaza offensive amid claims Hamas 'rearming'
Tel Aviv continues to demand that Hamas disarm while refusing to honor its obligations under the October 2025 ceasefire
A new report from the Israeli military claims that Hamas is manufacturing new weapons and recruiting new fighters to resume its fight against occupying Israeli troops in Gaza, Israel's Public Broadcaster (KAN) reported on 29 June.
Details of the unsourced report were submitted by officers from the Military Intelligence Directorate and Southern Command to Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir last week.
It claims that Hamas is somehow managing to produce hundreds of explosive devices and anti-tank missiles every month. The resistance movement has also recruited new fighters between the ages of 18 and 22 and restarted the training of members of its elite Nukhba force, the report added.
The Palestinian resistance movement is also allegedly rebuilding its tunnel network under Gaza and trying to smuggle drones and communication devices from Sinai.
“Hamas is strong on the ground,” the officers reportedly told Zamir. “Nobody is threatening it, and the organization is unwilling to give up control of Gaza.”
The Israeli military is using these claims, for which there is no public evidence, to justify a renewed military campaign in Gaza, as Israel seeks to cleanse the strip of its millions of Palestinian inhabitants to pave the way for renewed Jewish settlement.
“In light of this information, the report said the IDF believes that it must restart its offensive against Hamas,” the Times of Israel wrote.
The US is allegedly opposed to a renewed Israeli offensive, preferring to move forward with US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” initiative instead, the Israeli paper added.
Trump’s plan for Gaza resulted in a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October 2025 that was supposed to lead to a permanent end to the war.
Hamas met the requirements of the first stage of the ceasefire by giving up the last of the Israeli captives it took on 7 October 2023.
However, Israel has not fulfilled any requirements of the first stage. The military has continued to carry out near-daily strikes in Gaza, killing over 1,000 Palestinians in the eight months since the ceasefire went into effect.
Israel has also expanded the territory of Gaza it occupies from 53 percent to 60 percent. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told his troops to expand the occupation further, to 70 percent.
Israel has also continued to block the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid into Gaza.
While refusing to fulfill its obligations under the first stage of the ceasefire, Israel has demanded that Hamas disarm, which is a requirement of the second stage.
The second phase also calls for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from the strip, which Israel has refused, as well as the deployment of an international security force.
The Board of Peace envoy in Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, has also demanded that Hamas disarm without demanding that Israel fulfill its obligations under the first stage of the ceasefire deal.
Israel continued its attacks on Gaza. On Sunday, it killed at least four Palestinians, including a 13-year-old girl, Eileen al-Farra, who died from shrapnel from Israeli tank shelling.
Since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 75,811 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the health ministry. Independent estimates suggest that the death toll is vastly higher, reaching into the hundreds of thousands.