Ex-Pentagon advisor: Hamas cannot be destroyed militarily

“Hamas as an organisation, as an ideology, cannot be destroyed militarily,” former Mideast adviser to the US Department of Defence, Jasmine El-Gamal, has said.

In an interview with CNN, El-Jamal added that it appears that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is avoiding discussions on “Israel’s willingness to go into – enter into good faith negotiations over phase two.”

“Phase two is where Israel is going to have to make really significant concessions that go completely against what Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist coalition partners want, which is a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a commitment to a permanent end of the war.”

Netanyahu recently said: “[US] President Trump agrees with me completely: We will do everything to return all of the hostages, but Hamas will not be there,” adding, “We will eliminate Hamas, and we will return our hostages. This is the directive that I gave to the delegation – say this to the mediators and demand it.”

An Israeli delegation is being sent to Doha, Qatar, to begin talks on a second phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, Netanyahu said, however opposition leader Yair Lapid demanded that the delegation be given full authorisation to complete the deal, indicating that they have been given directives to the contrary.

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