When Israel invaded Gaza on October 7 in response to the unprecedented Al Aqsa Storm Operation by Palestine’s Hamas Resistance Movement against positions in southern Israel earlier that day, the regime’s cabinet led by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that it invades Gaza to annihilate Hamas and free captives taken by the movement during its Al Aqsa Storm Operation.
Neither of those goals however has been achieved despite nearly five months of intense military operations in Gaza and plans for a ground offensive in Rafah, a city in south of the besieged territory, which the Israeli military says is the last remaining stronghold of Hamas.
Now, prominent Israeli figures, from academics to historians and former Mossad officers, believe that the annihilation of Hamas is unachievable, raising doubts on how the Rafah offensive would help achieve that goal amid growing international concerns over a wider tragedy in the city where half of Gaza’s population are living in already dire humanitarian conditions, according to a Sunday IRNA report citing Israeli media outlets.
Critics have also referred to thousands of tunnels used by Hamas in Gaza. They say hundreds of those tunnels have already been destroyed, but there are still many more, which if cannot be destroyed, add to the problems hampering a victory against Hamas.
Netanyahu’s critics believe that the annihilation of Hamas is just an unreal slogan by the prime minister and that the easier solution for him is to focus on releasing the captives by accepting conditions set by Hamas Leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar.
“Sinwar does not give in to pressures. We cannot decide the fate of the war”, Former Mossad Director Tamir Pardo told Israel’s Channel 11, adding that if the cabinet and the prime minister want to leave behind the issue of the captives, they should publicly announce it.
Israeli analysts believe that Gaza has turned into a quagmire for the regime and the developments there mark the beginning of a war of attrition in the region.
The latest criticisms come as Netanyahu’s cabinet has already faced public anger in Israel over its failure to release the captives, with people holding rallies on numerous occasions, calling on their prime minister to step down. The latest such rally was held in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.
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