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Source: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4554293,00.html
Senior IDF Official: We Left Hamas in Power
(Ynet News) Yoav Zitun - The IDF did not take over Gaza or completely destroy Hamas in order to leave the organization in power, a senior IDF source said on Sunday. "There's an Israeli interest to have one address in Gaza, we don't want a Somalization in the Strip, but rather one group to enforce its control of the Strip. This is why the collapse of Hamas was not defined as one of the objectives," the senior source said. "We wanted to have an address on the other side on the day after. This address could be the enforcer against militants and take care of its citizens." He asserted that Hamas wanted to stop the fighting and said the current operation in Gaza will lead to a "longer window of security." "The objective is to change the reality from its very core, so we don't have mutual fire in two months. We need to have a balance of hope in the Strip and a balance of security in Israel." Now that "deterrence has been achieved," the source said he hopes the cease-fire agreement reached will be different to ones signed previously.