'Wishful thinking': War cannot be stopped before wide-reaching goals achieved, IDF spox. says

More than 400 days since the October 7 attacks, Israel’s war with Hamas shows no signs of ending anytime soon, even as more than 100 hostages remain in Gaza. In conversation with The Media Line’s Felice Friedson, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. (R) Peter Lerner said that Hamas’ military and governing capacities have been dismantled by the ongoing operations and that bringing the hostages home remains a key goal. Lerner noted that the war is far from over. 

“If we look today where we are with regard to Hamas, I would say we are advancing every single day,” Lerner said. “Hamas as a governing authority and as a terrorist entity is being weakened every single day from the activities on the ground, from the operations against the organization, and in effect, they have very limited capabilities today to control the Gaza Strip and to conduct terrorist attacks against us. But our mission there is still not fulfilled. One hundred and one hostages are the core goal.”

He said that the Israeli military is currently focusing on operations in northern Gaza, central Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor, and the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt. “We’re maintaining the operations in order to prevent Hamas from rebuilding, reestablishing, rearming, and regrouping,” he said. “And indeed, as the war effort continues, we will continue to pursue on the ground with the use of intelligence, wherever they try and regroup, and wherever there is an opportunity to hunt down and seek out the leadership in order to bring home the hostages.”

So far, Lerner said, the Israeli military has killed “the vast majority” of Hamas leaders and operatives, and nearly all of Hamas’ 24 battalions are no longer operational. Those successes have allowed the IDF to limit its physical presence within the Gaza Strip to only a few strategic areas.

“The operations continue precisely because Hamas still has a presence in the northern Gaza Strip,” Lerner said. “With regard to the presence in the Philadelphia Corridor, it is a strategic element. That is the route of supply that Hamas utilized for money and for weaponry and other goods as well that they tried to smuggle in.”

The Netzarim Corridor, which runs from east to west, allows the Israeli military to launch counterstrikes from “a relatively secure position,” Lerner said. 

He said that the IDF is also carrying out “an extensive humanitarian effort” alongside its military operations. According to the Israeli government body responsible for coordination with Gaza, more than “1 million truckloads of aid” have entered Gaza since the start of the war. 

“We have officers on the ground that their sole job is to be a humanitarian support officer, which means they are facilitating humanitarian access inside the Gaza Strip, but also the access of medical supplies, food supplies into the Gaza Strip either from Ashdod or from Egypt or from Jordan,” Lerner said. “These are all routes that are continuing to be conducted.”

Lerner rejected the claims by some international groups that Gaza is experiencing or soon to experience a famine. “The statements appear to be unfounded, and they don’t take into consideration many, many factors,” he said. 

“We have two crossings just in the northern area of the Gaza Strip. We have Kerem Shalom, we have Route 96, and we're planning on opening another access point near Kissufim.”

“From the IDF’s perspective, the humanitarian effort is one of a moral responsibility, but also an operational responsibility,” Lerner continued. “When we say our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza, it’s precisely that we can continue a humanitarian effort to distinguish between the population, the general population, and the terrorists that have run Gaza for the last 12, 13 years now.”

He acknowledged the existence of a bottleneck hindering the flow of aid already within Gaza. “It’s on the Palestinian side, inside Gaza, after it’s been cleared by Israel,” Lerner said. 

“There are something like 700 truckloads on the Gaza side, things that have been processed through Israel already, been cleared for distribution. But those international organizations that are saying there is famine are not collecting the goods and not distributing it, whether it's in the south, in the central Gaza Strip, or in the north.”

While the IDF focuses on military operations and humanitarian aid, diplomats continue to seek a political solution to the conflict. News broke on Saturday that Qatar, a longtime financial supporter of Hamas and mediator between Hamas in Israel, had given up its role as mediator and asked Hamas political leadership to leave the country. 

IDF creating opportunity for hostage deal or rescue operations

“Diplomacy needs to be left to the diplomats and the political echelon,” Lerner said. “From our perspective, the IDF is pursuing, creating the opportunity for either a deal to release hostages, or to create the operational opportunities for a rescue mission—we’ve had a couple of those. Both paths, from our perspective, are absolutely on the table. We need to pursue both of those simultaneously.”

“The IDF has open, direct and extensive, and I would also say, intimate working relationships with our US counterparts, specifically in US Central Command. We are addressing, of course, all of the different threats, specifically from Iran. But not only the threats from the Houthis in Yemen, there's also a substantial threat of cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.”

Lerner said that Israel is continuing to work closely with the US even during Biden’s lame-duck period. Israel and the US both agree that Iran is the destabilizing factor in the region and are working to address threats from Iran and the Houthis, he said.

For now, Israel has yet to make a decision about how to address the Iranian threat, Lerner said. “From our perspective, we are on a defensive posture but preparing for any eventuality. Of course, we are. And our message to Iran is to be very, very cautious in attacking Israel,” he added. 

In late October, Israel struck several military sites around Tehran, targeting Iranian defense, missile and drone production, and launch facilities. “We’ve conducted extensive activities that send a very, very clear message that it is not in Iran—the Islamic Republic’s—best interest to attack Israel. We’ve proven that against every enemy in the region, that if you come up against Israel, there is a severe price to pay.”

War in northern Israel 

Lerner said that Israel’s military might is evident in the war with Hezbollah as well, even as Hezbollah continues to launch dozens of missiles into Israel each day. 

“Of course, every single rocket or missile that is fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah into Israel is extremely concerning. What Hezbollah was actually planning, we need to really keep this in mind, several thousands of rockets being fired a day at Israel to try and overwhelm our defense systems. The current situation where we are today, there are probably around 150 rockets, missiles fired at Israel a day,” Lerner said. “While it’s inconvenient, it’s not what they planned.”

The best outcome for northern Israel is a negotiated agreement to ensure that Hezbollah does not have the capacity to attack Israel, Lerner said. “We can’t accept a new reality where Hezbollah will be prepared on our border to conduct an October 7-like attack,” he explained. “That’s what they were planning. We know because they published it in 2015, they published an extensive plan to conquer the Galilee. From our perspective, that’s an unacceptable reality.”

He said that Israel had targeted Hezbollah’s leadership and destroyed the organization’s offensive infrastructure, much of which was located in civilian areas on the border. 

“Of course, all of their strategic weaponry, the cruise missiles, the ballistic missiles that they had, have been free game from our perspective, no matter where they are. We know where they put them. They put them in the Dakhia area in southern Beirut, inside buildings in the basements of buildings.”

“We've targeted them, we're targeting their leadership, we're targeting the operators, and we are destroying the offensive infrastructure, the attack infrastructure that they had established over the course of many, many years. All of this has been done in the civilian arena. All of this has been done in villages that have been effectively turned into forward operating bases for Hezbollah.”

“We are currently operating against those areas. Of course, a very strong, and I would say, the most advanced aerial defense systems in the world, from the Iron Dome, to the Arrow, to David's Sling. Of course, with American support, it's even broader than that.”

“We will continue to operate in order to pursue the goal of returning the people of northern Israel, the 60,000 people that have been living now for more than a year, out of home because Hezbollah is attacking them,” Lerner said. “We’re determined to allow them to get home safely and securely.”

One major issue impeding Israel’s ability to return its citizens to northern Israel is drone technology. Lerner said that Israel is working to develop technology to defend against drone strikes. 

Diplomacy with Lebanon?

He said that a diplomatic agreement with Lebanon would have to include a clause addressing the threat of drone attacks. “It’s a threat that no sovereign country would permit to originate from a neighboring country, and Lebanon needs to do enforcement on their side,” Lerner said. “And if they don’t, then we will continue to enforce our safety and security for the people of Israel.”

Outside of Israel as well, Israelis are on high alert for potential violence. These fears came to fruition on Thursday night when dozens of Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam were attacked in what Israeli media is calling a pogrom. 

The Israeli government told the military to prepare a rescue mission for the Israelis in Amsterdam, but it eventually called off the mission, Lerner said. 

“We have the tools to bring Israelis home, of course, but I think that there are others in this type of scenario,” he continued. “In Europe, there are definitely the facilities and infrastructure and security apparatus to deal with these types of things. The IDF’s role is, I would say, marginal in this type of scenario.”

The IDF recently released a series of video clips filmed between 2018 to 2020 showing Hamas operatives abusing detained Palestinians. Lerner said that the compiled video “shows extreme brutality in the interrogation rooms of Hamas … just one example of the brutality of this regime towards its own people.”

“It’s just one example of what we’ve known for many, many years,” he noted. “What we know is that Hamas is a brutal regime, an oppressive regime, a regime that does not tolerate diversity in its society, does not tolerate people that have a different opinion, does not even tolerate when people speak out publicly against them.”

For the sake of Israelis and Palestinians alike, it is important that Hamas not be allowed to govern Gaza after the war ends, Lerner said. 

For now, the idea of the war’s end still seems out of reach. But Lerner insisted that it is crucial that Israel achieve a decisive victory. 

“The reality of a terrorist organization that has the powers of government, whether it’s Hamas or Hezbollah, where they have a terrorist army that they can decide to launch war against us, leaves us with no other option,” he said. “We have to win this. We have to win this, not only for Israel. I think there’s a much broader concern around the world that if this becomes the new norm for terrorism around the world, where terrorist entities claim and have the powers of government and launch attacks, launch war against a neighboring country, countries need to be able to fight back.”

He said that the end of the war ought to bring about “safety and security for … Palestinians, Israelis, and Lebanese alike, without these terrorist organizations that are trying to hold everybody hostage.”

Lerner said, “Countries need to have a decisive win. Of course, this is what we're aiming for. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that are paying the price for Hamas's decision, for Hezbollah's decision, and ultimately for Iran's decision to set these forward operating entities on our border.”

“Of course, there are lots of losers in this war, but there can only be one winner. The winner needs to be safety and security for Israelis, Palestinians, Israelis and Lebanese alike, without these terrorist organizations that are trying to hold everybody hostage.”

“I think there's a lot there. While perhaps there's a lot of responsibility on our shoulders, I think the expectation that we stop the war before those goals are reached is wishful thinking. Those goals need to be achieved.”

Lerner rejected the widely discussed idea that Israel would bring the war to a close leading up to President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. 

“Our goals, our war goals, need to be met,” he said. “Safety and security, the return of 60,000 Israelis to their homes in safety and security, the release of 101 hostages in the hands of Hamas, and a reality where Hamas never has the powers of government on our border ever again.”

Those goals could be achieved tomorrow if Hamas surrendered and returned the hostages and if Hezbollah agreed to retreat and disarm, Lerner said.

When the war does end, Lerner will finally get a break from his military reserve efforts as IDF spokesperson. 

“From my perspective, there are men and women that are putting their lives on the line every single day,” he said. “My small contribution is to try and convey to different audiences around the world what the IDF is trying to achieve, what are our successes, also to try and clarify some of the failures, because war is a devastating and very challenging reality in the best of circumstances.”

“It's a burden on my family, it's a burden on my regular job, but there are tens of thousands of reservists that do much more at a much larger risk than I do. From my perspective, and on a personal note, it's the least I can do for a country that is in a dire crisis, in a crisis and a war that we never expected, never wanted.”

“But nevertheless, it is one that is determining the future of the state of Israel, of the security of the people of Israel, and that includes my very own family, and that's why I'm here.”

“It’s the least I can do for a country that is in a dire crisis, in a crisis and a war that we never expected, never wanted,” Lerner added.