Israeli achieves all it can militarily in fighting against Hamas — newspaper

The US believes that the Israeli military has achieved all it can militarily in Gaza and now, diplomacy is the only way to resolve the crisis, the New York Times writes, News.az reports.

According to the newspaper, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has achieved more than Washington expected. "Israeli forces can now move freely throughout Gaza;" the military has "eliminated half the leadership of the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas," and "destroyed or seized crucial supply routes from Egypt into Gaza." However, US administration officials are confident that "diplomacy is the only way that Israel can achieve possibly its biggest goal - getting its hostages back."

Senior US officials pointed out that although "the Israeli military had severely set back Hamas but would never be able to completely eliminate the group." Continued bombings will only increase risks to civilians in Gaza but will not help bring Israeli hostages back home, the paper notes.

News.Az