Hamas can’t be destroyed: Israeli army spokesperson

In an interview aired on Israeli Channel 13, Hagari said that anyone who promises to eradicate Hamas is “misleading the public”.

He added that if the Israeli government doesn’t find an alternative, it will remain in Gaza.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement stressing that the security cabinet “has defined as one of the war goals the destruction of Hamas’s military and governance capabilities”.

Israeli security officials have also expressed their dissatisfaction towards the Netanyahu-led government’s lack of political strategy to bring the war on Gaza to a halt, Haaretz reported.

The Israeli news outlet stated that officials have slammed, in closed meetings, Netanyahu’s demand to eradicate Hamas, without presenting a clear outline for his goals.

According to Haaretz, security and military officials said that Netanyahu’s unclear path would push the Israeli army to advance dangerously in Gaza.

Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7 have killed more than 37,000 people, 40 percent of them children, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Recently, Netanyahu dissolved his war cabinet after opposition leader Benny Gantz withdrew from it.

Gantz stated Netanyahu is putting his own personal political considerations ahead of a post-war strategy. He also complained that “fateful strategic decisions are met with hesitancy and procrastination”, calling on the Israeli prime minister to hold an election in the coming months.