‘Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost’ claims Blinken

He also suggested that Israel’s strategy of sustained military pressure, intended to force Hamas into a ceasefire and secure a hostage deal on Israel’s terms, has passed the point of effectiveness.

“Israel has pursued its military campaign past the point of destroying Hamas’s military capacity and killing the leaders responsible for October 7, convinced that unrelenting military pressure was required to get Hamas to accept a ceasefire and hostage deal on Israel’s terms,” Blinken said.

Later in his speech, Blinken appared to criticised Israel’s war strategy, saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to advance a viable alternative to Hamas rule in Gaza—such as the Palestinian Authority (PA)—has led to repeated setbacks.

“We’ve long made the point to the Israeli government that Hamas cannot be defeated by a military campaign alone, that without a clear alternative, a post-conflict plan and a credible political horizon for the Palestinians, Hamas, or something just as abhorrent and dangerous, will grow back,” Blinken added.

“That’s exactly what’s happened in northern Gaza since October 7. Each time Israel completes its military operations and pulls back Hamas, militants regroup and reemerge because there’s nothing else to fill the void.”

His words came following reports that Hamas was “rebuilding” in Gaza under Mohammed Sinwar, younger brother of its late leader Yahya.

Presenting his plans for the “day after” the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, the Biden administration’s top diplomat reiterated that the PA and international partners should “run an interim administration with responsibility for key civil sectors in Gaza, like banking, water, energy, health, civil coordination with Israel.”

The envisioned interim body would “hand over complete responsibility to a fully reformed PA administration as soon as it’s feasible,” he said.

Blinken’s proposal, which he said would be shared with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, also calls for the US to train and arm more security forces in the PA, who would gradually take over from an interim force led by “partner nations.”

The legal position of the PA forces would be enshrined in a binding UN Security Council Resolution, the diplomat proposed.

The “capacity and legitimacy” of the PA, which he described as the “only viable alternative” to the Iran-backed Hamas, has been undermined by the current government in Jerusalem, Blinken claimed.

“Israel continues to hold back PA tax revenues that it collects on behalf of the Palestinians, funds that belong to the Palestinians and to the PA needs to pay people who provide essential services like health care and security in the West Bank, which is vital to Israel’s own security,” he said.

But critics argue that PA funnels such taxes to terrorists and their families under it’s so-called ‘pay for slay’ policy.

The Martyrs’ Fund is a cornerstone of PA law, granting terrorists or their next of kin the right to receive payments as long as they live.

Israel says the payouts encourage terrorism and Jerusalem offsets an equivalent amount from taxes that Israel collects on behalf of the PA.

These stipends have been dished out for years, but the issue came under a spotlight following the murder of Taylor Force, a US citizen killed by a Palestinian who went on a stabbing rampage in Jaffa in 2018. Congress passed the Taylor Force Act, which officially halted American aid to the Palestinian Authority as long as terror stipends were being paid out.

Blinken also accused the Jewish state of “expanding official settlements and nationalising land at a faster clip than any time in the last decade, while turning a blind eye to unprecedented growth of illegal outposts.”

The US’ top diplomat charged that violent attacks by “extremist settlers” against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank have reached “record levels.”

The Israel Defense Forces recorded 663 instances of violence by Jews against Palestinians in the West Bank last year, a 34 per cent decrease compared to 2023 when 1,005 incidents were recorded. Meanwhile, Israel recorded thousands of terrorist attacks committed by Palestinians in 2024—including many in the West Bank.

Blinken emphasised that Israelis “must abandon the myth that they can carry out de facto annexation [of the West Bank] without cost and consequence to Israel’s democracy, to its standing, to its security.”

“We sincerely hope the parties will be prepared to make tough choices going forward, and yet, the unimpeachable reality is that up to this point, they’ve either failed to make these difficult decisions or acted in ways that put a deal and long-term peace further from reach,” he said.

A month and a day after the Hamas-led massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Blinken said Gaza must be handed over to the PA. The solution “must include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the PA,” he said on November 8.