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| Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser |
Israel is preparing to restart military operations against Hamas in Gaza "within weeks," according to a seasoned Israeli intelligence and security expert speaking on Wednesday. He warned that even if last-minute pressure over an upcoming attack forces a temporary deal between the two sides, it would only postpone the inevitable return to fighting.
Brigadier General (retired) Yossi Kuperwasser, who recently took over as head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), made these comments. His views align with those of other retired Israeli generals who also predict the 15-month war with Hamas—halted on January 19 by a ceasefire and a step-by-step exchange of hostages for terrorists—will soon resume.
“The most likely scenario is that we will resume fighting against Hamas in the coming weeks,” Kuperwasser, a former head of the research division in the IDF Intelligence Directorate, told Jewish News Service (JNS) in an interview at his office in Jerusalem.
“There is a small chance that Israeli and Egyptian pressure will cause Hamas to change their position …, but this will only temporarily push the military campaign off,” he continued.
Fifty-nine hostages are still being held in Gaza, including two dozen who are believed to be alive.
The retired general said that if an agreement to free some of the remaining hostages is to be reached with the help of international mediators led by the Trump administration, it would only come about if Hamas is convinced that Israeli military action is imminent. Even so, it would be a temporary move since the terrorist group is refusing to disarm and leave Gaza, something Israel will not accept after the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre. If Hamas is not destroyed, the Oct. 7 massacre will be repeated over and over as they promised.
“The more they believe that Israel is ready to carry out a military campaign, the greater the chances of an agreement,” Kuperwasser said. “But this is only pushing off the end, not avoiding it.”
Last week, JNS reported that Hamas refused to extend of the first stage of the ceasefire deal and what was billed as a U.S. proposal to release half the hostages now with a seven-week extension of the truce through Ramadan and Passover while a longer ceasefire is worked out. That proposal came as an alternative to the more difficult to reach second stage of the Jan. 19 deal and reconciling Israel’s goal of dismantling Hamas’s governing and military capabilities and the terrorist group’s refusal to disarm.
Hamas views the hostages as a critical bargaining chip, and is demanding an end to the war and a full Israeli pullout from the Strip with international guarantees for their release, even after they started the war, killed 1,200 Israelis, kidnapped 251, and are getting their butts kicked. Still, they refuse to surrender and want Israel to make all concessions.
President Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is set to visit the region again in the coming days in an effort to extend the truce, but people familiar with war tactics and how Hamas abuses the rules of war, believe that the IDF needs to destroy the terror group completely.
Kuperwasser said Israel has the military capability to destroy Hamas and its 20,000 remaining terrorists, something that, he said, would take weeks, but did not do so until now primarily because of opposition by the Israeli security establishment and pressure from the former US administration over Palestinian civilian casualties as well as the safety of the hostages.
“It has to be made clear to the Arab world—with Hamas losing its rule over Gaza—that October 7 was a total failure,” he said.
Last week, JNS reported that Hamas refused to extend of the first stage of the ceasefire deal and what was billed as a U.S. proposal to release half the hostages now with a seven-week extension of the truce through Ramadan and Passover while a longer ceasefire is worked out. That proposal came as an alternative to the more difficult to reach second stage of the Jan. 19 deal and reconciling Israel’s goal of dismantling Hamas’s governing and military capabilities and the terrorist group’s refusal to disarm.
Hamas views the hostages as a critical bargaining chip, and is demanding an end to the war and a full Israeli pullout from the Strip with international guarantees for their release, even after they started the war, killed 1,200 Israelis, kidnapped 251, and are getting their butts kicked. Still, they refuse to surrender and want Israel to make all concessions.
President Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is set to visit the region again in the coming days in an effort to extend the truce, but people familiar with war tactics and how Hamas abuses the rules of war, believe that the IDF needs to destroy the terror group completely.
Kuperwasser said Israel has the military capability to destroy Hamas and its 20,000 remaining terrorists, something that, he said, would take weeks, but did not do so until now primarily because of opposition by the Israeli security establishment and pressure from the former US administration over Palestinian civilian casualties as well as the safety of the hostages.
“It has to be made clear to the Arab world—with Hamas losing its rule over Gaza—that October 7 was a total failure,” he said.
Hopefully, October 7 will be the last time Hamas, Hezbollah, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Arabs of Gaza who have tried their level best to kill all the Jews, will be totally defeated and peace restored to the region.
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