Hamas has recruited almost as many fighters as it has lost amid Israel’s war on Gaza, a US official says.
Hamas has recruited almost as many new fighters as it has lost in its 16-month war with Israel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
Washington’s top diplomat made the claim during a speech on Tuesday in which he reiterated the Biden administration’s position that Hamas cannot be defeated “with a military campaign alone.”
The comments come amidst the hope that a ceasefire agreement is close. However, plans for the post-conflict period remain unclear amid complex and competing ambitions.
“Without a clear alternative, a post-conflict plan and a credible political horizon for the Palestinians, Hamas, or something equally heinous and dangerous, will rise again,” Blinken told the Atlantic Council think tank.
“This is exactly what has happened in northern Gaza since October 7. Every time Israel completes its military operations and withdraws, Hamas militants regroup and reappear because there is nothing else to fill the void. That’s a recipe for perpetual rebellion and perpetual war.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that “total victory” over Hamas and the destruction of the armed group is the main goal of his country’s war in Gaza.
However, analysts and even Israeli military officials and politicians questioned the likelihood of achieving that goal.
Last month, Yair Golan, a former member of parliament and current chairman of the Israel Democrats, said the war must end with a “political solution”.
Post-conflict blues
Speaking of progress negotiationssaid Blinken “I believe we will get a ceasefire”.
On Tuesday, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said negotiations to end the conflict were ongoing. final stageswhile warning not to set too high expectations until there is an official announcement.
The ceasefire agreement being reached is believed to involve three phases, including a cessation of hostilities and an exchange of Israeli and Palestinian prisoners.
The final phase is understood to include discussion of an alternative government to Hamas and plans to rebuild Gaza, which has been devastated.
However, the plans are unclear. The Palestinians, Arab states and Israel have yet to agree on a vision for post-war Gaza.
Blinken said Washington believes the Palestinian Authority should call on international partners to “help establish and lead an interim administration for the enclave.”
In the meantime, Israel would need security guarantees and billions of dollars would need to be found for reconstruction.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, speaking at the annual meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of a Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Wednesday, said that “a cease-fire is a prerequisite for peace, but it is not peace. “
“We must now move forward towards a two-state solution. And since there is one of those two states, which is Israel, we need to build another state, which is Palestine,” he said.
