White House official says Israel has ‘accomplished most military goals in Gaza’

Israel has accomplished most of its military goals in the war against Hamas, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says.

Asked for the basis of US President Joe Biden’s assertion on Friday that the Hamas terror group can no longer carry out another attack akin to the one it launched against Israel on October 7, Kirby responds, “It is based on accumulation of our own intelligence assessments across the intelligence agencies.”

“We’re also not saying that Hamas has been wiped off the face of the map. We have not said that Hamas has no military capabilities,” Kirby says in an interview on ABC News’ “This Week” program. “We have not said that they don’t still represent a viable threat to the Israeli people. Of course they do.”

“But they don’t have the military capabilities to do what they did on the 7th of October. From a military perspective only — as President Biden said — the Israelis have accomplished most of their goals in Gaza,” Kirby asserts.

This gap between Hamas being unable to carry out another October 7-like attack and still representing a viable threat to Israel will likely lie at the heart of deliberations by Israel as to whether it will stick with the hostage deal proposal its war cabinet authorized last week.