Status: 10.11.2023, 18:10 PM
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"Hamas must be defeated": Benjamin Netanyahu. © Abir Sultan/ EPA/AP/dpa
Resolute Prime Minister Netanyahu: The Israeli army should retain control over the Gaza Strip. A handover to international forces is out of the question.
Jerusalem - Israel's military will have control over the Gaza Strip after the war, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli army will "retain control of the Strip, we will not leave it to international forces," Netanyahu said at a meeting with representatives of Israeli border towns, according to media reports.
Earlier, Netanyahu said in an interview with US broadcaster Fox News that Israel does not want to try to conquer, govern or occupy the Gaza Strip. "But we want to give him and us a better future throughout the Middle East. And to do that, Hamas must be defeated." He did not set a timetable, "because it may take more time," Netanyahu said. The Gaza Strip must be demilitarized, de-radicalized and rebuilt.
A senior adviser to Netanyahu said last week that Israel is not seeking a continued occupation of the area. However, there must be a security presence of Israel so that the military can go in for missions depending on the threat situation, Mark Regev told the US broadcaster CNN.
Abbas wants Gaza control in case of two-state solution
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has reportedly once again signaled its readiness to return to power there as part of a two-state solution after the end of the Gaza war. "We will bear our full responsibility within the framework of a comprehensive political solution," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. What is meant is the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, which would include the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
However, this vision is seen by most members of the current right-wing religious government in Israel as a threat to the Jewish state and is therefore rejected. There are also far-right ministers who seek the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Dpa