Former CIA Director General David Petraeus has said that Israel must “clear and control all of Gaza” to fulfill its stated mission of destroying Hamas and rescuing the hostages.
Petraeus, a retired American general who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, likened the war to the war against the so-called Islamic State.
“If you look at the case of [Iraqicity] Mosul and the destruction of the Islamic State and I think Hamas can be compared to that, although it’s an imperfect comparison, if that is the model, you have to destroy Hamas, you cannot reconcile with them.
Mosul was retaken by the Iraqi army with the supportof US-led coalition warplanes in 2017 in a massive military operation that reduced large areas to rubble and killed many people. thousands of civilians.
Petraeus said that after the current war, Gaza will have to be rebuilt.
However, once Hamas is destroyed, it is possible that Israel will”take on this task”due to the lack of alternatives, the general added. Petraeus also told the BBC that the fear that Israel’s military operation in Gaza could scare future generations was”very legitimate”.