Can Israel Eradicate Hamas in Gaza City?

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00:00Dr. Eli, we look at the pictures on our screens and we sort of see the chaos unfolding in Gaza

00:06City and that's how it feels. Do you think Israel's occupation of Gaza City will eradicate

00:14Hamas in the region and finally bring some sort of closure to what's been happening?

00:19Well, again, practically speaking, if they occupy all the land and actually control above

00:25and underground fully, they might make sure that Hamas is no longer there as a leadership,

00:31as an authority. But what about Hamas's ideology? What about Hamas supporters? What about Hamas

00:37outside the Palestinian border or the border of Gaza in that sense? And the more important

00:43question, how long does it going to take? How much destruction is it going to take? How much

00:48death of people is it going to take to actually have that full unconditional control in that? So

00:54I doubt that we can speak about eradicating Hamas in that sense. It does not make sense. It's going

01:00to be coming at an extremely high price. And more importantly, we repeat again and again, what is

01:06the plan of the day after? What kind of peace? A peace with who? If you're killing the diplomats,

01:12if you're killing the negotiators, if you're aggressing a state that is leading the mediation,

01:18what are you expecting? Who are you going to be dealing with? And in the middle of that,

01:23going back to Trump, unconditional support from the US, even against the attack of Qatar on Qatari soil,

01:31absolutely no significant condemnation or significant action, let's say, by Trump's

01:38administration. On the contrary, Rubio came and he came to support Israel and to see how they can

01:44stop Israel being pressured by other countries.

01:48And I do know that when Rubio went on that visit to Israel, he did say he was going to get questions

01:55on the day after Israel's plans for what happens after the occupation of Gaza City. But we didn't

02:01seem to get much information from that visit either. So people are left in the dark when it comes to that.

02:08Let me just add one point, if I may. This tactic of surrounding a certain city and keep bombing it

02:16until the people flee out is a clear tactic that has been used by Putin, by ISIS, by Assad, by different

02:22people around the world. It's a clear statement that we want the land without the people. So we will

02:29surround the city. We keep bombing it and destroying it, keeping one way out of the people, guiding them

02:34to where we want them to go. So it's unfortunately becoming clearer and clearer that Israel intends to

02:40stay in control of Gaza and, if possible, without all of the Palestinian people.