Blaine Holtt tells Newsmax: Israel Defense Forces are Making ‘Remarkable Advances’ in Conflict

The Israel Defense Forces are making “tremendous progress” toward getting close to ending Hamas as a unified group in Gaza, even while the deaths among the Israel soldiers grew Sunday, retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier Gen. Blaine Holt said on Newsmax Sunday.

“That number went to 14 about 45 minutes ago,” Holt said on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.” “I’ve been watching it very closely, the intense fighting in Khan Yunis as they move into the southern part of Gaza, that’s the next major center of gravity. Once they have complete control of Khan Yunis, then we can call that the beginning of the end of Hamas. “

Still, the “tricky part” will be dealing with the leaders of Hamas who are out of the country, said Holt.

“Are they going to pursue that via clandestine means?” he said. “Are they going to pursue that via diplomacy? We already have a regional war, so we just have to watch it very carefully.”

Holt also commented on an exclusive in Sunday’s Wall Street Journal report that President Joe Biden helped avert an expansion of the Israel-Hamas war.

According to the report, Israeli officials were ready for a preemptive strike against Hezbollah in Lebanon on Oct. 11, just four days after the Hamas invasion, but Biden convinced them to back away, based on what the United States considered was unreliable intelligence.

Holt called it “unfortunate” that the information about the discussions was leaked to the media, because “diplomacy is something that should be conducted behind the scenes.”

“Yet, what we’ve seen is we say the words we stand by Israel and yet we just badger them on the world stage, and it weakens what they’re trying to do,” said Holt. “The IDF is very clear about its strategy with Hezbollah. They’re answering Hezbollah attacks with containment and deterrence.”

Further, he said that it isn’t certain that Hezbollah is not Israel’s next target.

“When world opinion goes against Israel, then they feel they’re backed into a corner and that this is the moment in time that they’re going to have to deal with their threats because they may not get another,” he said.

Meanwhile, Israel is also fighting the “information war” that is leading to outcry over the deaths of civilians in Gaza, while “75% of them would put Hamas back in charge this second if they could,” said Holt.

“You’re looking at a culture that thinks it’s okay to wrap suicide vests around their babies because that’s a martyr action,” he said. “This is why Hamas must be removed. We don’t want to see any innocent lives killed or lost at all…they have generations where they lead these people into this blood cult and it’s got to be broken.”

Meanwhile, Russia has called for a cease-fire as part of a UN resolution on the war, and Holt said many people believe Russia has been involved in the war effort since the beginning.

“If you look at the logistics that Russia has provided through Iran and into Syria to create the pressure on the north on the Hezbollah side, you know Hamas works with Iran,” he said, adding that it is in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s best interest to shift attention to to the Middle East and away from the Russian war in Ukraine.

“He’s there on a limited time schedule as well,” said Holt. “Nobody’s doing well in any of this stuff, but those would be the Russian equities.”

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