Israel's military campaign in Gaza has reached its limits, failing to eliminate Hamas or bring hostages home: report

Israel has reached its "maximum" military achievements in Gaza, senior US officials have told The New York Times on Thursday, highlighting that the campaign had failed to achieve Israel's key objectives of eliminating Hamas and bringing the captives home.

While Israel's relentless onslaught of the enclave had "severely set back Hamas", it was unlikely the campaign will eliminate the group, officials told the outlet, highlighting that the bombing only endangers civilians with more than 40,000 Palestinians already killed in the 10-month war.

Another one of Israel's key objectives, the retrieval of around 115 captives from Gaza, will not be achieved militarily, both current and former US and Israeli officials said.

"Israel has been able to disrupt Hamas, kill a number of their leaders and largely reduce the threat to Israel that existed before Oct. 7," Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the former head of US Central Command, told the outlet, claiming that Hamas had been "diminished".

Votel added that the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza can only be achieved through negotiations with talks being held on a possible ceasefire in Doha on Thursday.

The latest US assessment comes as Biden administration officials are actively pursuing diplomatic efforts across the region to secure a Gaza ceasefire agreement and prevent a potential retaliatory strike by Iran and Hezbollah following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah official in Lebanon.

US officials pushing for a deal and regional de-escalation will deliver the message to Israel that "there is little more Israel can accomplish against Hamas", the NYT report said, in an attempt to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "to take his wins and back down".

On Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Security Minister Yoav Gallant, with the latter reportedly questioning Netanyahu’s objective of a "total victory" in Gaza.

Austin and other officials in the Biden administration were aligned with Gallant's stance that securing a ceasefire deal would be in Israel's best interest, the NYT report said.

"Hamas is largely depleted but not wiped out, and the Israelis may never achieve the total annihilation of Hamas," Ralph Goff, former CIA official who served in the Middle East, told the outlet.

However, retired Israeli Major General Yaakov Amidror argued that Israel still had strategic gains to make on the ground in Gaza, warning that "if Israel evacuates its forces now, within a year, Hamas will be strong again".

US officials highlighted that although Israeli forces had attempted to destroy Hamas's tunnels, they had not succeeded in doing so, noting that the network was far more extensive than Israel had anticipated and continues to provide cover for Hamas leaders and fighters.

Israel's military offensive in Gaza, which began on 7 October, has killed over 40,000 people - 70 percent of whom, were women and children, and many others are innocent civilian men.

A UN report in May found that over half of schools, hospitals, and mosques have been destroyed, while more than 88,000 buildings were damaged, including 30,000 completely razed.