An Israeli army colonel said that if a deal is not reached with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), there is no choice but war on the northern front, and another senior officer estimated that eliminating the military and governmental capabilities of the Hamas movement will take another year.
Maariv newspaper quoted Israeli reserve colonel Marom Kobi as saying that Israel must launch a broad operation in the north “to make Hezbollah understand that it is fighting for a new reality.”
For its part, the Israeli Army Radio quoted an officer in the Southern Command, described as senior without mentioning his name, as saying that “neutralizing Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities requires another year.”
The officer claimed that the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, “suffered a fatal blow in all the brigades that were damaged to the point of disintegration, and today operate as a group of fighters who carry out guerrilla warfare as a major form of combat.”
In contrast, he noted that “the ruling regime is alive, and it is possible to damage Hamas so that it will not be able to recover anymore.” He also claimed that “within a year Hamas will be a weak body, the Israeli army will have complete freedom of action in the Gaza Strip, and there will be a significant reduction in the risks to the settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip.”
Zero missiles
The officer stressed that “the Southern Command has set an ambitious goal of zero rockets from Hamas, and we have not reached this situation yet, but we are on the way to this goal,” he said.
Despite its relative decline, the occupation army has not been able to stop the launching of rockets from inside the Gaza Strip, despite the entry of its 12th month of war against the besieged Strip for 18 years.
Regarding the head of Hamas’s political bureau, Yahya Sinwar, the officer said, “He is alone. Most of the leaders around him have been frustrated. He is running away and hiding. It is only a matter of time before we reach him,” he claimed.
On more than one occasion, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set three goals for the war on the Gaza Strip: eliminating Hamas, releasing detainees in the Strip, and ensuring that Gaza does not pose a threat to his country’s security. However, according to observers, he did not achieve any of these goals, while the war caused the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
With full American support, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving about 136,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine.
In contempt of the international community, Israel continues this war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution to stop it immediately, and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.