‘We didn’t want to topple Hamas’

3 August 2014, 6:30 pm

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A senior military official tells Ynet that the IDF could have taken over Gaza in 10 days, but the government didn’t want to destroy Hamas.

“There is an Israeli interest that there be one address in Gaza. We don’t want ‘Somalization’ in Gaza instead of one party who will rule, and this is why the toppling of Hamas was not defined as a goal.”

“If they had told us to defeat Hamas,” he continues, “we could have already captured the Strip within 10 days, then another year or two of searches and operation to destroy terror infrastructure in the Strip, while fighting guerrillas as they did in Defensive Shield. This wasn’t the essence of the mission given to us.”