Senior IDF Intelligence and Southern Command officers warned Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir last week that Hamas is rebuilding its military capability — producing hundreds of explosive devices and anti-tank missiles monthly, recruiting fighters aged 18–22, resuming Nukhba training, and smuggling drones and communications gear via Sinai. The IDF has recommended resuming combat, but the US administration opposes returning to war, preferring to advance the Trump administration's peace vision.
A fresh warning from senior IDF officers to Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir — first reported Sunday by Kan 11 — now includes a stark new element: explicit US opposition to resuming combat. The officers, from the Intelligence Directorate and Southern Command, told Zamir last week that Hamas is rebuilding its military capability, producing hundreds of explosive devices and anti-tank missiles monthly, recruiting fighters aged 18–22, resuming Nukhba training, smuggling drones and communications gear from Sinai, and reconstructing tunnel networks across Gaza. The assessment, as relayed to the chief of staff, is that "Hamas is strong on the ground — no one is threatening it, and the organization is not willing to give up control of Gaza." The IDF reportedly conveyed its recommendation to return to combat to American officials, but the administration pushed back, preferring to continue with the framework agreement as part of advancing the Trump administration's regional peace vision.
The thread has built rapidly over the past week. On Friday (June 26), The Zioneer reported that Southern Command chief was pushing for renewed operations, arguing Hamas is at a weak point, while the General Staff and political echelon held back. A Monday (June 22) report from Army Radio said the top brass recommended immediate action despite concern that President Trump might intervene to block it. The same warning — of Hamas rebuilding, recruiting young fighters, and manufacturing bombs — was reported Sunday (June 28) evening by Kan 11, first as a general intelligence assessment, then as a personal warning to Zamir. This new dispatch adds that the US opposes the resumption of hostilities and favors the diplomatic track, a detail that was absent from the earlier reports.
As The Zioneer reported on June 17, the US has also been pressing for Gaza reconstruction and the deployment of an international force — a proposal the Israeli security cabinet blocked last week. That American preference for a non-military path now appears to align with the administration's reported pushback against the IDF's combat recommendation.
What remains open: the entire chain of reports relies on a single source (Kan 11's Itai Blumenthal), and the IDF has not issued an official statement or confirmed the assessments. The scope of Hamas's rebuilding — the claim that it is producing hundreds of devices monthly, recruiting thousands, and reconstructing tunnels — has not been independently verified. The reported US opposition has also not been formally acknowledged by either the White House or the Pentagon.
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Source and signal
- Internal intake