Netanyahu Claims Hamas Near Defeat; US Warns of Potential Gaza Power Vacuum

by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that the Israel was on the verge of defeating Hamas’s military wing. At the same time, the United States cautioned against a power vacuum in the Gaza Strip, emphasizing that chaos must be avoided as Israeli government leaders debate a post-war administration for Gaza.

Netanyahu stated on Monday that the intense phase of fighting in Rafah was nearing completion. Still, an agreement for the release of the remaining 120 hostages in Gaza had yet to be reached.

“We are advancing to the end of the stage of eliminating the Hamas terrorist army; we will continue striking its remnants,” Netanyahu said on Monday.

During a visit to Gaza on Tuesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi stated that the operation in Rafah would take time.

He reported that over 900 Hamas terrorists, including commanders, a battalion commander, and many company commanders, were killed in the Rafah Brigade.

Speaking to troops at a forward logistics base, Halevi emphasized the military’s ongoing efforts to destroy Hamas’s infrastructure in Rafah, including its tunnels. “It takes time, so this campaign is long because we do not want to leave Rafah with the infrastructure,” he explained.

Despite expressing skepticism about the end of the Gaza conflict, U.S. Secretary Blinken stressed in an interview at the Brookings Institute in Washington, “When this conflict ends, it cannot and must not end with a vacuum in Gaza.” He emphasized the critical importance of post-conflict plans, warning that without them, a vacuum is likely to be filled by “bad things before they get filled with good things.”

“It has to end in a way that makes sure that there are clear, coherent, achievable plans for Gaza’s governance, for its security, and of course, to start to help [Palestinians there] build their lives that have been so decimated and destroyed,” Blinken stated.

He outlined three unacceptable outcomes once the intense phase of the Gaza war ends: an Israeli occupation, Hamas continuing its leadership, or chaos, anarchy, and lawlessness, which are prevalent in many parts of Gaza today.

In recent weeks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has privately softened its opposition to involving individuals linked to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in managing Gaza after the war against Hamas, according to three officials familiar with the matter told the Times of Israel.

Previously, Netanyahu’s office had directed the security establishment to exclude the PA from postwar plans for Gaza, which two Israeli officials said hindered the development of realistic proposals for “the day after.”

Nevertheless, publicly, Netanyahu continues to oppose PA rule over Gaza, telling Channel 14 last week that he will not allow a Palestinian state in the territory and is “not prepared to give [Gaza] to the PA.”

However, according to the Times of Israel, Netanyahu may privately accept a revamped and reorganized PA that significantly addresses incitement and terrorism. A key factor in whether the Israeli government would accept this reorganized PA is the ending of welfare payments to families of Palestinian terror convicts based on the length of their prison sentences—a policy criticized as “pay-to-slay.”

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