Brigadier-General (res.) Amir Avivi, a former IDF official, has expressed concerns regarding the Qatari proposal which suggests ending the fighting and exiling the leaders of Hamas from Gaza.

In an interview with Maariv, Avivi said, "If the IDF exits the Gaza Strip and isn't in there, it will not be able to fulfill its job and ensure that Hamas will never return to rule the Gaza Strip."

"In order to dismantle Hamas in Gaza and destroy all of the organization's terror infrastructure, we need a period of at least two years within Gaza."

"Since we only now are starting to deal with those infrastructures, the proposal is irrelevant. The State of Israel cannot exit Gaza again. If there is another Disengagement, then what have we accomplished? Why have we fought until now if we haven't dismantled Hamas from within?

"On the day after [the war], we need for there to be freedom of movement in Gaza as there is in Judea and Samaria, so that we won't lose control over the Strip, like we lost control in the past thirty years. And we saw what happened."