Asked on the current situation in terms of Israel’s war against Hamas, Col. Kemp replied, “I think Hamas is now feeling a significant amount of the weight of the IDF on it, and the only reason it's not feeling even more is because the IDF has to be cautious about the hostages. But at the same time, they're making mincemeat of Hamas." Most of Hamas's most senior leadership has been destroyed, huge numbers of their terrorists have been destroyed, a lot of their equipment, so I think they're very much on the back foot, and I would hope that Hamas will be completely eliminated as a fighting organization within perhaps a few weeks,” he added.
Asked how to reach what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defines as a “total victory” in the war, Col. Kemp said, “Well, a total victory goes even beyond dealing with the terrorists and with their weapons and with their tunnels. Of course, you can do all of that. It takes a lot of time, dealing with 400 miles of tunnels underneath Gaza is a long-term project. But Hamas can be certainly neutralized by sheer military force and then prevented from rising again by a long-term security presence in Gaza, and I think what I would define as total victory in Gaza is retrieving the hostages, all of the hostages. I'm not saying that's going to be 100% possible, but every effort needs to be made to do that.” “Secondly,” he continued, “is to eliminate Hamas as a terrorist entity that's capable of threatening Israel. And thirdly, preventing anything like Hamas rising again in Gaza.” (Read More)
