'No military solution' for Israel in Gaza or Lebanon: Israeli official
After five months of fighting, Israel has been unable to defeat Hamas' Qassam Brigades or push Hezbollah away from the Lebanese border
Former Deputy Chairman of the Israeli National Security Council, Eran Etzion, stated that "there are no military solutions" to the wars Israel is fighting in the south against Hamas and the north against Hezbollah and that the Israeli government is lying, Al-Mayadeen reported on 2 March.
Etzion told Hebrew Channel 13 that "it is not a coincidence that the government did not solve the Hamas problem in the Gaza Strip after five months of war," explaining that it "created unrealistic expectations for the battle in the south and continues to do so regarding the northern front."
He explained that "no change will occur, even if the fighting continues for a year in this way, and even in the most optimistic circumstances, and the government knows that."
"There are no short wars, neither in the north nor in the south, and there are no purely military solutions to our problems, neither in the north nor in the south," Etzion concluded.
"The Israeli public must realize this and wake up from its expectations … The government must stop lying to the public."
Al-Mayadeen adds that political affairs analyst for Channel 13, Rafif Drucker, stated that pushing Hezbollah away from the border was only a "dream" the army had now woken up from. The Israeli military "is now unable to invade Lebanon and establish a belt up to the Litani River, or to remove all Hezbollah elements from the border," and "what is happening in Gaza is evidence of that."
On 29 February, The Wall Street Journal acknowledged that "Israel is still far from its declared war aim of eliminating Hamas as a significant military and political entity."
"Fighting the enemy is like a game of whack-a-mole," an Israeli reservist in Khan Yunis with the 98th Division told the paper. He said many soldiers feel the army has no plan and wonder why they are fighting. "It will be very hard to destroy Hamas," he concluded.
Part of the difficulty lies in destroying Hamas's vast tunnel network, which it uses as military headquarters and to move across Gaza's cities, protect its leaders, hide Israeli captives, manufacture weapons, and conduct hit-and-run attacks.
"Until you take all of this away from Hamas, you won't be able to beat it," said Guy Aviad, a researcher on Hamas and a former Israeli officer.
Hamas also continues to have significant manpower despite suffering significant losses. Hamas leaders in Gaza have told Egyptian officials that although the group's military wing, the Qassam Brigades, has lost at least 6,000 men killed, another 24,000 still remain.