Former Israeli military intelligence officer: Israel is a long way from defeating Hamas
Michael Milshtein, a former Israeli military intelligence officer who leads Palestinian studies at Tel Aviv-based Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, told the Reuters news agency that Israel would need more boots on the ground across more areas of Gaza to achieve its aim of eliminating Hamas.
“We are very far from the goal of destroying Hamas’s government and military capacities. We are really not close to that,” Milshtein said.
He noted, however, that a purely military victory would in any case ignore the group’s social, political and economic influence. “We’re continuing to treat an enemy who is multi-dimensional in its behaviour as a military threat only.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set the destruction of Hamas as the chief aim of Israel’s war on Gaza and has said that he will not agree to any ceasefire or captive exchange deal that does not allow Israel to pursue this goal.
Biden, Netanyahu meet families of American captives held in Gaza
Following a meeting behind closed doors, Biden and Netanyahu have met the families of American captives in Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister has been under pressure to achieve a deal with Hamas that includes the release of all captives held in the besieged Strip.
Among those attending the meeting was the family of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose video released by Hamas ignited new protests against the Israeli government in April.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden met at the White House with the families of the American hostages: The Siegel family, the Alexander family, the Dekel-Chen family, the Naftali family, the Neutra family, the Goldberg-Polin family and the Chen family. pic.twitter.com/r9j8zbbGYk
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 25, 2024
Captives’ families after Biden-Netanyahu meeting: ‘Return abductees, end suffering in Gaza’
The families have released a statement after their meeting, saying that they “made it clear to the two leaders that a deal should be made to return all the abductees and end the suffering of the residents of Gaza”.
“When the abductees return the killing will stop.”
The statement adds that at the close of the meeting, the group of families felt “more optimistic than we have at any point since the previous hostage release agreement in November”.
