Hamas cannot be defeated by military reoccupation of Gaza: Former Shin Bet Head

As Israel’s government pushes ahead with plans to reoccupy Gaza, Israeli opponents of the war are becoming more strident, with one telling The National the move would not bring further security to the country but would instead endanger it. “From a military point of view, we’ve reached the point we wanted to achieve. The impact now will be that our security will be decreasing,” said Ami Ayalon, a former head of Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet. Mr Ayalon argued that those who say reoccupying Gaza after 22 months of Israeli bombardment would bring an end to Hamas do not understand what occupation means, nor what eliminating the Palestinian militant group would entail.