By Zein Khalil
JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari criticized the country's political leadership when he described the rhetoric about destroying Hamas as misleading in an interview with Channel 13.
“The talk of destroying Hamas is like throwing dust in the public's eyes,” Hagari told the station late Wednesday.
“Hamas is an idea. You cannot destroy an idea. The political leadership must find an alternative; otherwise, it (Hamas) will remain,” he added.
Since the start of the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has listed the destruction of Hamas as a key objective, despite skepticism from military analysts and Israeli observers about the feasibility of the goal.
Hagari discussed the army's announcement on June 8 about the release of four captives in a military operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. “It is not possible to release all hostages through military operations,” he acknowledged.
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
Nearly 37,400 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 85,400 others injured, according to local health authorities.
More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio