IDF chief: Long-term calm in Gaza requires ‘carrots’
Hamas doesn’t want to renew hostilities now, Benny Gantz says, but economic conditions in the Strip must be improved
Israel achieved a decisive victory in this summer’s hostilities with Hamas, but maintaining a long-term ceasefire depends on improving the day-to-day conditions and economic conditions of Gaza residents, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said.
“Hamas, in its present condition, will not be quick to allow the security situation with us to deteriorate again,” he told Haaretz in an interview published Thursday.
Hamas’s ability to fight Israel has suffered a blow, and the organization lost “resources, tunnels, rockets,” he added.
However, keeping the peace with Gaza will require “carrots,” Gantz said. The joint Israel-UN-Palestinian Authority oversight program to bring more goods into the Strip, established after the open-ended ceasefire that ended the hostilities, should be continued but in a “sane manner.”
http://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-chief-long-term-calm-in-gaza-requires-carrots/