WASHINGTON: Senior US officials say Israel cannot eliminate Hamas by continued bombardment of Gaza and only risks civilian casualties.
The US media reported that national security officials in Washington think that Israel will never be able to eliminate Hamas.
As the Biden administration pushes to resume ceasefire talks, senior officials are moving toward calling for a cessation of Israeli forces’ activity in the Palestinian enclave.
Israeli claimed half of the leadership of Hamas’s armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, had been killed, including Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa. Hamas, however, denies that Deif was killed in an airstrike on July 13.
Former head of US Central Command, Gen. Joseph Votel, said the release of the hostages could be secured only through talks.
The shift of opinion among US officials comes as Washington sends its top envoys across the Middle East to strengthen prospects of a Gaza truce and avert an Iranian retaliatory attack on Israel.
The CIA Director William Burns, envoy Amos Hochstein and Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk have been sent to Qatar, Egypt and Lebanon. Friction has also been surfaced within the cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hamas’s vast network, which is much larger than Israel anticipated has been crucial in its strategy of war. Officials in the Pentagon have complained privately that Israel has failed to demonstrate an ability to secure territory in Gaza.
Ralph Goff, a former CIA official who served in the Middle East, told the US media that Hamas is largely depleted but not wiped out, and the Israelis may never be able to defeat Hamas.
According to the Gaza health ministry Israel’s war on Gaza, now in its 314th day, has killed at least 40,005 Palestinians mostly women and children and injured over 92,401 others.
