Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to receive criticism for failing to “wipe out” Hamas during more than 15 months of onslaught on Gaza as he pledged to do, Al Jazeera reports.

Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador, noted neither Hamas’s political nor military infrastructure was entirely eradicated despite Netanyahu repeatedly citing it as the main goal of the conflict.

“Yes, Hamas was degraded, even decimated, militarily but they’re still standing up. So in that respect, short of occupying the entire Gaza Strip — which is something Israel never wanted to do — he did not attain that goal,” Pinkas told Al Jazeera.

“As for turning the Palestinians against Hamas, in order to do that he needs to offer them some sort of silver lining, some kind of alternative. Let’s not forget, it was Netanyahu’s deliberate, by-design policy to strengthen Hamas in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority and say ‘what do you know, I’ve got no one to talk to about a peace process.’

“He did that for many years so now he shouldn’t have any expectation of some kind of liberal-democratic opposition springing up against the havoc and destruction Hamas wreaked on people.”