OCCUPIED AL-QUDS (Dispatches) -- A retired Israeli general who masterminded a plan for displacing Palestinians from northern Gaza believes that military option is not the solution to ending Hamas’ rule in the enclave.
“Israel must declare its willingness to end the fighting in Gaza in exchange for the return of all captives,” Giora Eiland told local radio 94 FM on Tuesday.
“The path to ending Hamas’ rule is not through the military solution, which has proven ineffective,” added Eiland, a former head of Israel’s so-called national security council.
He said continuing the Israeli war on Gaza will lead to the death of more captives and soldiers in the Palestinian enclave.
“Except for the dozens of soldiers who will die every year under military rule, Israel will not achieve anything,” he added.
Eiland was the mastermind of the so-called Generals’ Plan, which calls for imposing a blockade on northern Gaza and forcibly displacing Palestinians from the area as part of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on the enclave.
According to Israeli military analysts, the Zionist regime has been practically implementing the plan since October 2024 without an official recognition.
The Israeli military has continued a large-scale ground onslaught on northern Gaza since Oct. 5 to allegedly prevent Hamas from regrouping. Palestinians, however, say Israel is seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.
Since then, no sufficient humanitarian aid including food, medicine and fuel has been allowed into the area, leaving the remaining population on the verge of imminent famine.
The onslaught was the latest episode in Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that has martyred about 45,900 people, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023.
In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former war minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
Meanwhile, Israeli media has raised new questions about the occupation army’s ability to dismantle Hamas after the group resumed firing rockets from northern Gaza.
Hamas has launched 20 rockets over the past 19 days, 14 of them from northern Gaza, according to Amir Bar-Shalom, the military correspondent for Israel Army Radio.
Bar-Shalom stated that the Israeli army “is no longer facing what was once called the Hamas army. It has now reached a point where it cannot target every last fighter.”
The sentiment was shared by Michael Milstein, head of the Palestinian Studies Department at Tel Aviv University. Speaking to Channel 12, he said: “The army is now facing a second version of Hamas.”
Milstein explained that the Hamas movement has adapted, transitioning from battalions to small fighter groups. “Anyone speaking of defeating Hamas must understand they will never reach the last fighter or the last cell,” he added.
Yossi Yehoshua, a military affairs correspondent for Yedioth Ahronoth, said Hamas “remains resilient, capable of recruiting more members, and enjoys support from nearly all Gaza residents, making it difficult to replace or eliminate them.”