Israel intends to maintain broad control over the Gaza Strip even after the current war against Hamas, an Israeli official said on Sunday.
“I do not see a situation in which Israel does not have the ultimate security responsibility in Gaza,” the official said at a Hebrew-language briefing with Israeli reporters at Kirya in Tel Aviv.
US President Joe Biden has warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that re-occupying the Gaza Strip would be a “big mistake”. Israeli officials insist they have no interest in doing so.
The official added that after the fall of Hamas, “just rehabilitating Gaza will not be enough.”
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“It must go through a process of ‘denazification,'” the official continued. “This culture [of seeking to kill Jews] still exists in the Palestinian Authority.”
Netanyahu also used Nazi Germany as a metaphor to describe Hamas on Sunday.
Yaha Sinwar (center), head of the Hamas terror movement in the Gaza Strip, shakes hands with a masked fighter from the military wing during a rally marking the 35th anniversary of the group’s founding, Dec. 14, 2022, in Gaza City. (MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar “doesn’t care about his nation and behaves like a little Hitler in his bunker,” Netanyahu said.
In the last days of his life, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler hid in a Berlin bunker and blamed the German people for the country’s defeat in World War II. They “deserved to perish,” said the German dictator.
“[Sinwar] “Care about your people as much as you care about a speck of dust,” Netanyahu said.
The official said the IDF and its deployment on the northern border would also change after the war.
A tracked Israeli army medical vehicle moved along a road near the northern town of Kiryat Shmona, near the border with Lebanon, on October 31, 2023. (Jalaa MAREY/AFP)
“The IDF will deploy against a [massive] “This is a border breach and not just a few terrorist cells invading communities,” the official said.
“The IDF will be bigger,” the official continued. “We will invest in the army.”
The official added that Hezbollah “cannot break through the border due to our commitment and the readiness of our forces.” The topic of “conquering the North” is no longer relevant.”
There are wise people in Saudi Arabia and Israel. It will be possible to continue the process we started before the war afterward – provided we win
Civilians would return to evacuated communities in the north, the official said, “due to the scale and strength of the victory over Hamas.”
However, the official stressed that efforts are currently underway to ensure that a massive terrorist attack, similar to the one carried out by Hamas on October 7, cannot take place in the West Bank. “The possibility of big change [in IDF operations] in the West Bank remains realistic.”
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a session on “Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment” as part of the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India, on September 9, 2023. (EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/ POOL/ AFP)
The official expressed optimism about the normalization process with Saudi Arabia, which was a top priority for the United States and Israel until the Hamas massacre.
“There are wise people in Saudi Arabia and Israel,” the official said. “It will be possible to continue the process we started before the war afterward – on the condition that we win.”
According to the White House, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman agreed in a phone call with Biden to eventually “build” on U.S.-brokered negotiations to normalize relations.
Biden administration officials have acknowledged that normalization efforts are no longer the most immediate priority for the U.S. and Israel as they work to respond to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. But the White House insists it remains committed to that goal and has suggested that one of the reasons for the Hamas massacre was to thwart the effort.
Spy drama
The official also became embroiled in apparent tensions between former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and its current director David Barnea.
“Yossi Cohen was not appointed as a representative by the prime minister,” the official said. “He addressed the prime minister at the beginning of the war with a message from an Arab leader. The Prime Minister received the message but directed him to work under the current Director Barnea. Parallel tracks can complicate things.”
Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen speaks at a conference organized by the Makor Rishon newspaper at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, February 21, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90/ File)
The official added that “relations with Qatar are managed by the current Mossad chief along with the intelligence staff led by Nitzan Alon and the head of the Shin Bet. They report to the War Cabinet.”
Earlier on Sunday, Mossad released a similar statement through the Prime Minister’s Office, declaring that “there is only one official channel managing the release of the hostages,” adding that “any other official who claims “He has a connection to it and is not authorized to do this.”
Cohen – who is part of Gal Hirsch’s team advocating for the release of prisoners held by Hamas in Gaza – was recently in Qatar to discuss the hostage issue and also held a meeting with the families of the abductees. Cohen claimed in an interview that everything he did was coordinated with the Mossad and the PMO, although the statement suggested that this was not the case.
On Sunday evening, the prime minister’s office issued a clarification that the former Mossad chief “initiated a meeting with an Arab leader with the approval of the prime minister.” The statement added that Cohen “also held a series of meetings on diplomatic issues and remained in contact with the national security adviser,” apparently trying to contain the internal dispute.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) meets with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani at a hotel during a day of meetings amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in Amman, Jordan, November 4, 2023. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP)
The official also said Israel was seeing early signs that the Israeli ground operation was pressuring Hamas to seek an agreement to release hostages. “We see something, but it’s not ready yet. We didn’t see anything before.”
On the possibility of a ceasefire – a growing priority for Israel’s allies – the official said: “Even if there is a ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages, it will only be temporary and Israel will continue to work to overthrow Hamas.”
Without the release of the hostages, there will be “no break and no feast,” the official said, adding: “Whoever wants a break, I’m sorry for the expression, it can bite me.” The official also said Israel is walking away stated that the majority of the hostages were still alive: “Hamas sees them as an asset.”
The official added that Israel did not know how many terrorists the IDF had killed: “I know we killed many, but I don’t know how many.”
In a brief televised statement on Friday, Netanyahu said he had told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he opposed any temporary halt to the fight against Hamas that did not include “the release of our hostages.” .
In addition, the official emphasized, there has been no offer to release hostages with foreign citizenship.
The official also argued that Netanyahu was not doing politics during the war. “The Prime Minister goes around concerned with only one thing: warfare. The public can talk about it, but the Prime Minister has no intention of dealing with it now.”
A handout photo shows IDF soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip in images distributed on November 5, 2023. (Israeli Defense Forces)
After the terrorist group’s devastating attack on October 7, in which thousands of terrorists stormed the border and murdered about 1,400 people, mostly civilians killed in their homes and at a music festival, and kidnapped over 240 of them, Israel declared war with the aim of Hamas to eradicate people of all ages held captive in Gaza. The Hamas attack involved thousands of rockets fired across Israel. Hamas and other terrorist groups have continued to fire rockets into Israel, displacing over 200,000 Israelis.
Israeli leaders have rejected humanitarian ceasefires in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli military presses ahead with its offensive, and Jerusalem has warned that Hamas will exploit any lull in fighting to advance its war effort.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said on Sunday that more than 9,770 Palestinians have been killed since Hamas sparked the war with its murderous attack. The numbers make no distinction between terrorists and civilians, nor between those killed in Israeli strikes and those killed by hundreds of rockets fired by terror groups that fell short inside the Gaza Strip.