Retired Israeli general: I respect resilience of Hamas

A retired Israeli major general has praised the Palestinian resistance for “demonstrating its ability” to replace its killed commanders with men equally capable and devoted.

In an article published by the New York Times on Wednesday, Glora Eiland stated, “From a professional standpoint, I have to respect their resilience. I see no signs of a collapse of Hamas’ military capability or their political power to continue to lead Gaza.”

The newspaper also quoted Michael Milshtein, a former senior Israeli intelligence officer who criticized statements by several officials of the regime who had described Hamas as being at its breaking point. He warned that high-ranking Israeli officials may be creating wrong expectations about the length of the campaign in the Gaza Strip.

“They have been saying for a long time that Hamas is collapsing, but that’s not true. Every day, we face difficult battles,” Milshtein said.

The New York Times also quoted US military analysts as saying the best outcome for Israel might be to weaken the military capabilities of Hamas, but even this limited goal is considered an extraordinarily difficult undertaking.

In November, General Charles Q. Brown of the United States said knocking out Hamas would be “a pretty large order.” 

And on December 26, Dan Halutz, a former Israeli military chief, said the regime has lost the battle with the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

In an interview, Halutz said the only victory to be achieved is the overthrow of the prime minister. “For me, the picture of victory will be when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu steps down.”

“There will be no image of victory because the image reflects the loss of 1,300 lives and 240 prisoners, despite their return, and approximately 200,000 refugees who failed to return to their homes,” Halutz stated.

Halutz had also expressed concern over the future of the Israeli entity.