Senior US official questions Israel’s ability to achieve complete victory in Gaza
US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said on Monday that President Joe Biden’s administration did not believe Israel would achieve a complete victory in defeating Hamas in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
While US officials have urged Israel to help develop a clear plan for governing Gaza after the war, Campbell’s comments are the most explicit yet for a senior US official who effectively acknowledges that Israel’s current military strategy will not achieve the result its aiming for.
Speaking at a NATO youth summit in Miami, Campbell said, “In some ways, we find it difficult to define what the theory of victory is; Sometimes when we listen closely to Israeli leaders, they often talk about the idea of… A sweeping victory on the battlefield, a complete victory”.
“I don’t think we see this as possible or possible and that this is very similar to the situations, we found ourselves in after the events of September 11, where the insurgency continues after the transfer of the civilian population and a lot of violence,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed a complete victory over Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and holding 250 others hostage.
Campbell’s comments come as Washington warns Israel against going ahead with a major military offensive on Rafah, the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip, where more than a million people already displaced by Israeli attacks are sheltering.
Campbell likened the situation in Gaza to the renewed insurgency the United States faced in Afghanistan and Iraq after invading those countries in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, and said a political solution was needed.
“I think we think there needs to be more in terms of a political solution … What is different from the past in this sense is that many countries want to move towards a political solution in which the rights of Palestinians are more respected… I don’t think it was more difficult than it is now,” he said.
