V After the massacres on October 7, Israel had no choice but to uproot Hamas from Gaza and release the hostages.
It has already made considerable progress towards achieving those goals. It has taken over most of the Gaza strip; destroyed most of Hamas’ military formations (19 out of 24 battalions); killed, captured or injured about 20,000 out of 35-40,000 terror operatives, including some leaders; confiscated huge numbers of weapons; and destroyed a significant amount of both the surface and underground infrastructure of Hamas, much of which was located in or under civilian centres such as Unwra offices, schools, hospitals and private apartments.
But this impressive progress, which has come at a heavy price for both Israel and the Palestinians, is not enough.
Israel is now looking at completing the mission of defeating Hamas, destroying its terror and military capability, denying it the ability to rule Gaza, releasing the hostages and establishing – together with the international community and the moderate Arab world — a new reality in Gaza that will guarantee that it will not be used as a basis for launching terror attacks and will provide a prosperous future to its inhabitants.
