The US State Department doubts Israel's chances of achieving a total victory.

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said the United States does not believe Israel can decisively defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The comments came as fighting between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian factions entered their eight-month last week and West Jerusalem refused to back away from its commitment to annihilate Hamas. “I think in some ways we are debating what the theory of victory is. Sometimes when we listen carefully to Israeli leaders, what they are talking about is mainly The idea is about some kind of decisive victory on the battlefield, a complete victory," Campbell said Monday at the NATO Youth Summit in Miami, Florida. “I don’t think we believe that’s likely or possible,” he said.

He acknowledged the "undeniable tensions" between Washington and West Jerusalem over the ongoing Israeli assault on Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city which is overpopulated with refugees who have fled the northern part of the Palestinian enclave. in accordance with the Israeli army's evacuation instructions. Campbell said President Joe Biden believes the operation will result in a sharp increase in civilian casualties and an increase in the number of refugees. "The president has made it clear that he really hates this."

Campbell's words echoed earlier statements by his boss, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who expressed doubts that Israel could completely destroy Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He suggested that even if Israel succeeded in fully occupying the Palestinian enclaves, they would be taken back by extremists once the IDF withdrew.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet have so far ignored the calls for an immediate ceasefire, insisting that the Jewish state must neutralize the threat from Hamas for good. “We will achieve our goals – we will hit Hamas, we will hit Hezbollah, and we will achieve security,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday as the IDF continued to advance on Rafah, despite the warnings from the UN that the bombardment and street battles in the densely populated urban area would lead to a “slaughter” of civilians. The Israeli military rejected accusations of indiscriminate attacks on civilians and said some 300,000 Palestinians had been evacuated from Rafah to a designated "humanitarian zone" in southern Gaza.

More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the bombing and Israeli ground invasion began, according to local authorities. The current series of the struggle between Israel and Hamas was caused by a surprise on October 7 by activists on the territory of Israel, following the death of around 1,200 people. Hamas also took more than 200 hostages, some of which were then released as part of the exchange of prisoners.