"Israel has achieved everything it can militarily in Gaza," they added, "Israel's ability to further weaken Hamas has diminished."
According to the officials, the IDF can now move freely across Gaza, and Hamas has been significantly harmed. Additionally, the Times noted the IDF's assessment that approximately 14,000 terrorists were killed or captured during the war. "Hamas has largely been depleted, but it has not been eliminated - and it is possible that the Israelis will never manage to destroy it," said Ralph Guoff, a former senior CIA official who served in the Middle East.
The American officials claim that Israel has achieved a significant military victory over Hamas, which is no longer capable of planning or executing an attack on the scale of October 7th.
In the article, retired Major General Yaakov Amidror, former head of Netanyahu's National Security Council, was also quoted as saying that, "Israel's achievements in Gaza are impressive but far from what needs to be achieved. If Israel withdraws its forces now, within a year Hamas will be strong again. Stopping the war now would be a disaster; two or three more months of intense fighting in central and southern Gaza are needed. After this stage, Israel can move to intelligence-based raids for a year to take out the remaining Hamas militants and weapon infrastructure before another entity assumes local control." Israel National News - Arutz Sheva
