Israel to US: ‘It will take more than a few months to destroy Hamas’

Biden’s National Security Advisor meets with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to discuss ongoing Hamas war.

By World Israel News Staff

President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan arrived in Israel Thursday, meeting with senior Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for talks on the ongoing war with Hamas.

Netanyahu hosted Sullivan and Biden’s special Mideast envoy Brett McGurk for talks in the Kirya, the headquarters of the IDF in Tel Aviv, where Sullivan met with Israeli National Security Councils director Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud) and members of the Israeli war cabinet.

The American delegation met with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud) as part of the consultations with the war cabinet.

Amid calls from some foreign leaders – and many Democratic lawmakers who have urged Biden to pressure Jerusalem – for Israel to wrap up its war with Hamas, Gallant emphasized that the destruction of the terror organization will require a lengthy campaign.

“It is not easy to take a democracy into war, but once we are in the war, we will prevail because we are fighting for the right issues and for the right values. Thank you for standing side by side with us,” Gallant said.

“Hamas is a terrorist organization that built itself over a decade to fight Israel. and they built infrastructure under the ground and above the ground, and it is not easy to destroy them.”

“It will require a long period of time – it will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them [Hamas].”

During the meeting in the Kirya, the war cabinet and the American delegation also discussed operational developments on the northern border with Lebanon, and the need to enable Israeli citizens to return to their homes in the north.

In addition, the parties also discussed various threats in the Middle East region including Iranian aggression via its proxies in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.