Israeli Minister Ze’ev Elkin (New Hope) shared his thoughts on Tuesday, suggesting that Israel has not taken enough action to dismantle the infrastructure that supports Hamas’s leadership.
“Hamas is a terror organization that won’t disappear. The goal is to take its governing means. Hamas in Judea and Samaria conducts terror attacks, there are riots there, but it can’t do what Hamas in Gaza did on October 7th,” Elkin stated during an interview with Kan Reshet Bet.
He further emphasized, “We needed to destroy Hamas’s civilian governing apparatus. Everything relies on it. Hamas stands on two feet. Some aren’t hiding in tunnels and are walking around with weapons. We didn’t kill them because we didn’t see them as targets, and that was a mistake.”
Elkin argued that a shift in strategy could have impacted Hamas’s civilian governance structure. “If we would have changed the work method we would have hurt Hamas’s civilian governing apparatus. If you control the population’s water, money, and food you have no problem enlisting new terrorists,” he explained. The minister also cited U.S. President Biden’s stance, noting that “Hamas can’t remain in Gaza,” adding that there is broad agreement within the Trump administration on this point as well.
{Matzav.com Israel}