Gallant to Sullivan: Dismantling Hamas Will Take More Than a Few Months

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met today (Thursday) with American National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to discuss continued plans against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the efforts to remove the threat on the Lebanese border, and the need to return the northern evacuees home as soon as possible.

During the meeting, Gallant provided a survey of the advance of the fighting, stressing that eliminating the Hamas terror organization would require more than a few months and expressing his appreciation for American support for Israel’s war aims of freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas.

Gallant: Israel Will Also Defend Itself on Other Fronts

The two also discussed the various threats in the Middle East and the Iranian aggression as seen in the attacks by its proxies in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon on American and Israeli targets. Gallant stressed that the State of Israel will support the international task force for dealing with the naval threat and would defend itself with its own forces against any threat.

At the meeting, the Defense Minister said that “we appreciate your personal commitment to the State of Israel - to releasing the hostages, and to the diplomatic effort [you are leading] and your support in the military channel. Thank you.”

According to Gallant, “the United States and Israel share common interests, common values and in this war, we also share common goals. This is important to the State of Israel and it is essential to the rest of the region, to the Middle East.”

He added that “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 period of time - it will last more than several months, but we will win and we will destroy them.”