U.S. Marine Corps reserve Lt. Col. Eric Navarro, the director of military and strategy programs for the Middle East Forum, gave a cautious assessment Sunday on Newsmax regarding Israel’s planned large-scale operation to seize Gaza City, warning that the effort could lead to further conflict if it is not fully carried out.
“If it is just a temporary operation to go in and supposedly destroy elements of Hamas and then leave, then that is a half measure that will lead only to further conflict,” Navarro said on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America Weekend.” “If they want to maintain and hold command of the land, that is a different story.”
He added that he always asks whether the plans for Gaza will be full-scale, removing the threat to Israel from the region, “or are we just going to keep doing this endless cycle of confrontation?”
Israel approved a plan this month to seize control of Gaza City, describing it as Hamas’ last stronghold. The operation is not expected to begin for several weeks, leaving time for mediators in Egypt and Qatar to attempt to revive ceasefire negotiations.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed Sunday to press ahead with the offensive despite international concern and domestic objections. On Friday, Katz warned that Gaza City would be razed unless Hamas agreed to end the war on Israel’s terms and release all remaining hostages.
Navarro also rejected claims that Israel bears responsibility for providing food to civilians in Gaza.
“We did not drop aid to the German people as we marched on Berlin,” he said. “You do not do that. You do not provide aid and comfort to the enemy as you are fighting them. And we know that Hamas seizes the supplies that are delivered to most of the Gazans. So I reject that completely.”
He further argued that aid deliveries have become part of a broader propaganda battle.
“It is showing that Hamas’ information operations work, these false narratives, these false frames that they create with the pictures supposedly of famine that end up not being that,” Navarro said. “They have an effect on Western audiences, and it delegitimizes Israel and Israel’s operations. The only way to combat that is to win on the ground. To win on the ground, you have to defeat Hamas, control the land, and make sure that the Palestinians accept their defeat.”
Navarro concluded by pointing to deeper ideological divisions that he said perpetuate the conflict.
“The Palestinian people have been inculcated with an ideology to despise Jews and to want the eradication of Israel, so whenever they talk about a two-state solution, the issue is the Palestinians do not want two states,” he said. “They want Israel. They want to return to that land. That is never going to happen, and until they accept that, the conflict will not end.”
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