Ex-CIA chief: To defeat Hamas, Israel must get Gaza running again

Ex-CIA chief David Petraeus on Thursday said that for Israel to beat Hamas, it must not only take apart its remaining battalions in Rafah but also must get Gaza running again for Palestinian civilians.

Speaking at the INSS Conference in Tel Aviv, Petraeus said, "Only by getting Gaza running again for Palestinian civilians, whether in stable food distribution, with hospitals properly running, and eventually with a general return of civil society, will Israel truly be able to end Hamas’s source of support."

The former CIA chief stated Israel cannot “stop until Hamas has been destroyed and cannot be reconstituted.”

In addition, he said Israel must get Gazans back to their homes, demonstrate to people that aid is being given in a stable way, “that hospitals are functioning, that construction will return,” and that society goes back to functioning…Then you need to implement a plan that keeps them from being able to reconstitute.”

Encouraging a two-state solution

Despite his support for completely destroying Hamas, he said that Israel must eventually come to terms with a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

Petraeus said that though the two-state solution has major issues, it is still the only stable way to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict eventually.

Further, he said that Saudi normalization will not occur until Israel comes to terms with this.

Regarding Iran, Petraeus said that election-year politics is holding the US back from confronting it with harsher sanctions.

He pushed hard that immediately after the November 2024 US presidential election, Washington would restart a major sanctions campaign against the Islamic Republic.