Blinken told Israel it’s ‘impossible’ to completely eliminate Hamas

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is being reported to have told Israeli officials during his recent visit to Tel Aviv that, “It is impossible to completely eliminate Hamas.”

Blinken arrived in Israel on Monday evening for the fifth time since the beginning of the war on Gaza on 7 October. He met with a number of officials, including President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as the Israeli War Cabinet.

According to Israel’s Channel 13, during his meeting with the cabinet, Blinken presented Washington’s request to implement the two-state solution as the vision for the “day after” the war in Gaza. “Blinken told the ministers: Just as you have ambitions, the Palestinians also have ambitions. You must accept that,” said the channel.

Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer apparently replied that, “Eight-five per cent of the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria [the occupied West Bank] support the massacre that took place on Black Saturday [7 October].”

Senior Israeli officials told the channel that Blinken’s message was simply, “If the two-state solution is not presented as a vision, Israel will not advance politically, not even [in the normalisation] with Saudi Arabia.”

Since the outbreak of the genocidal war in Gaza, Israel has been restating that one of its goals in the Strip is to eliminate Hamas and bring back Israeli citizens being held hostage in the territory.

As of 19:55 (GMT) on Wednesday, there was no official comment from Washington or Tel Aviv regarding what was reported by the Channel 13.

Moreover, Blinken has discussed US efforts to address “extremist Israeli violence” in the West Bank with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, according to the State Department’s official spokesman, Matthew Miller.

Since the outbreak of the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip on 7 October, the Israeli army has intensified its military operations in the West Bank and increased the frequency of its incursions and raids into cities, towns and refugee camps. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed or arrested. Attacks on Palestinians and their property by illegal Jewish settlers have also intensified.

Blinken and Abbas also discussed ongoing efforts to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza and accelerate and increase the delivery of humanitarian aid to them throughout the enclave. The US official’s visit to Ramallah was part of his tour of the Middle East to discuss developments in Gaza and escalating tensions across the region.

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