Retired Adm. James Stavridis stated the dangers of Israel’s resolution to assault Hamas’ political leaders who have been in Doha, Qatar, to debate a U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal on Tuesday outweighed the potential advantages of the raid, throughout an interview with CNN on Wednesday.
Talking to CNN’s John Berman, Stavridis defined why the operation was, in his phrases, “not worth it.”
“Tactically, this really diminishes the opportunity for life for the hostages” held by Hamas in Gaza, Stavridis stated. “Secondly, operationally, I think this is going to only encourage Israel to continue ground operations in Gaza. That’s going to kill thousands of civilians, probably hundreds of Israeli troops as well.”
However Stavridis famous that, most necessary, the operation could have been a strategic misstep on the a part of the Israelis.
“You’ve launched a strike into a sovereign nation, into a very close ally of the United States,” he stated. “I’ve been to Doha, the capital, too many times to count because it’s our largest airbase in the region, Al-Udeid, very well hosted by the Qataris.”
“So you have managed to stress the relationship with the U.S., stress the relationship with the Europeans, and above all, it makes it impossible for the Arabs to go forward with the next phase of the Arab accords,” he added. “It’s just not a good trade-off for Israel.”
Hamas claimed Israel’s assault didn’t achieve taking out its senior leaders, however famous that 5 of its lower-level members have been killed within the strike. Qatar stated one of many nation’s safety officers was additionally killed in Tuesday’s assault.
In the meantime, President Donald Trump advised reporters he was “very unhappy” about Israel’s motion, including that he was not given advance noting of the plan.
“I was very unhappy about it, very unhappy about every aspect,” Trump stated. “We got to get the hostages back. But I was very unhappy about the way that went down.”
