Israeli Defense Chief Reveals IDF Recovered Letter of Top Hamas Fighter Showing Terror Group Is Crumbling

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday revealed a letter which he said was written by the former commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade about the major losses the Palestinian terrorist group has suffered in the ongoing war in Gaza.

The letter, which has not been independently verified but Gallant claimed was written by Rafe Salama and intended for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his brother, detailed the infrastructure and personnel damage Hamas has sustained since it began a war with Israel on Oct. 7 of last year.

According to a translation of the letter by the Israeli Defense Ministry, the letter noted that “we [Hamas] have lost 90-95 percent of our rocket capabilities; and we have lost some 60 percent of our personal weapons; we have lost at least 65-70 percent of our anti-tank launchers and rockets.”

The letter was supposedly written prior to July, when Salama was killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) along with Hamas’s former top military commander Mohammed Deif.

“We have lost at least 50 percent of our fighters between those who are martyred and wounded, and now we are left with 25 percent,” Salama reportedly wrote. “The last 25 percent of our people have reached a situation where the people do not tolerate them anymore, broken on a mental or physical level.”

As of mid-August, the IDF said it had killed more than 17,000 terrorists in Gaza since the beginning of the war against Hamas on Oct. 7, which roughly aligns with the numbers outlined in the letter if it is authentic.

Gallant said the letter showed “the difficult situation of the Hamas organization.” He wrote on X/Twitter that “Hamas is in real distress from the junior to the senior level — we will continue the effort and reach everyone.”

“He [Salama] cries out for the help of the Sinwar brothers, but of course, they can’t save him,” Gallant said. “Why? We are continuing the effort that started in October, which continues step by step and reaches all senior Hamas officials.”

Since the start of the war, Israel has killed many high-ranking terrorists of Hamas and other groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah.

In late July, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an explosion that took place while he was staying in Tehran, the Iranian capital city, for the inauguration of the country’s new president. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied it was behind the explosion, although Hamas and its allies have accused the Jewish state of being responsible.

That same week, Israel Israel killed Fuad Shukr, the No. 2 leader in the Hezbollah terrorist organization, in a targeted strike on a building in Lebanon. The assassination came as a response to a Hezbollah rocket attack on the Druze village of Majdal Shams, located in the Golan Heights, which hit a soccer field and killed 12 children.

Similarly in July, Israel took out Deif, who is widely considered to be the person — along with Sinwar — most responsible for planning and carrying out Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

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