IDF Assessment Claims Hamas Producing Hundreds of Explosives Monthly During Gaza Ceasefire

A new document from the IDF, reviewed by Israel’s Channel 13 on or before May 13, 2026, assesses that Hamas is producing hundreds of explosives and surveilling IDF troops stationed in Gaza. The assessment adds to signs that the group is rebuilding its capabilities during a truce that has prevailed in Gaza since October 2025.

Israeli journalist Moriah Asraf reviewed the IDF report and called it the most “severe” document released by the IDF that she has viewed during her time covering the ceasefire.

“The IDF chooses time after time to put in writing these warnings … so that nobody will be able to say that they did not know that Hamas is growing stronger,” Asraf said. The report was delivered to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.

The Channel 13 report assessed that Hamas is producing hundreds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and anti-tank rockets each month.

Hamas is also conducting training exercises in the nearly 40 percent of Gaza under its control. Recent reports indicate that Hamas may seek to use deadly First-Person View (FPV) drone attacks against IDF troops in Gaza. Hamas is exploiting increased aid shipments to smuggle weapons and dual-use products.

Contraband is often concealed in the same boxes as permitted humanitarian goods. Israelis have on occasion participated in smuggling themselves, including assisting in smuggling electronics like cell phones. In February 2026, reports emerged that Hamas was utilizing seaborne smuggling with “drift-containers” to float dual-use contraband from the Sinai Peninsula onto Gaza’s shores.

Hamas has also been collecting taxes of up to 30 percent from Gazan merchants selling humanitarian aid. Hamas imposes a reported 15-25 percent tax on private sector aid cargo flowing into Gaza according to a January 2026 Israeli report. These income streams have assisted the rebuilding of Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.

Some Israeli officials estimate the al-Qassam Brigades to have reached a strength of 27,000 members. Hamas is attempting to hinder progress toward the goals laid out in President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan. Israel’s KAN news reported on May 12, 2026 that armed Hamas members had prevented Gazan contractors from working to prepare the site of a new, reconstructed Palestinian city in IDF-controlled Rafah.

Hamas has attempted to integrate its loyalists into ministerial positions that would eventually be controlled by the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG). The group attempted to incorporate 10,000 of its police officers into the force that NCAG is expected to manage.

On May 8, 2026, Israeli media reported that Palestinians who served as Hamas civil servants in the past have been allowed to apply to the NCAG force but will need to undergo vetting by Israel’s domestic intelligence service Shin Bet.

The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) is the body of Palestinian technocrats designed to replace Hamas as part of Washington’s plan. -led Board of Peace (BOP) was created by the Trump administration to oversee the Gaza ceasefire.

On April 30, 2026, the Board of Peace stated: “For those actually wanting to help Gaza … use whatever influence you have to maintain the pressure on Hamas, so they fulfill their obligations,” above all, the need to disarm.

The Board of Peace issued an early April 2026 ultimatum for Hamas to accept disarmament that came and went without consequence. FDD reported that the ceasefire in Gaza has been in effect since October 2025. The policy brief is dated May 13, 2026 and authored by Aaron Goren, Research Analyst and Editor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.