10/11/2023 6:49 am, updated 10/11/2023 6:49 am
In an interview with Fox News, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke openly for the first time during the war against the extremist group Hamas, which does not want to expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. “We have no intention of conquering Gaza,” said the politician.
In several speeches around the world, leaders expressed fear that Israel would use October 7 as justification for expelling Gaza’s population and occupying the territory and that this would be repeated in the West Bank. “We don’t want to displace anyone,” Netanyahu said in a live interview on Thursday evening (September 11).
According to the Israeli, the aim of expelling the population from the northern Gaza Strip is simply to move civilians to a safe zone. This is because, according to the country, Hamas’s operations center is in the north and military operations are intensifying in this region.
1/7Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Israeli soldiers as he inspects the region where soldiers are stationed in the settlements of Be’eri and Kfar Aza in southern Israel, near the border with Gaza, on October 14, 2023. ▲ Briton Rishi Sunak and Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu ▲US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ▲Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ▲Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ▲ 1234567{{#values}}{{#ap}}{{/ap }}{{^ap}}{ {/ap}}{{/values}}
“We want to see field hospitals. We encourage and enable humanitarian aid to reach there. This is how we fight this war,” Netanyahu assured, despite several images circulating around the world showing Israeli attacks on civilian places.
For him, it’s about getting the Hamas dictatorship to withdraw from Gaza. “We must see Gaza demilitarized, deradicalized and rebuilt. All of this can be achieved,” he continued.
“We have no intention of conquering Gaza. We have no intention of occupying Gaza. And we have no intention of ruling Gaza,” Netanyahu added. Detail: He also did not nominate the Palestinian Authority, which rules the West Bank, as a replacement for Hamas which would be in the US plans. The Israeli made it clear that the ideal is to “find a civilian government that is there.”
Attack on Israel
The interview is the second Netanyahu has given to a US media group this week. He had previously avoided contact with foreign journalists because Hamas invaded Israel with around 3,000 terrorists on October 7th, killing around 1,400 people and taking at least 240 hostages.
The prime minister reiterated that Israel would observe fourhour humanitarian breaks every day to allow civilians to move to the south and receive aid. “The fighting against Hamas terrorists continues, but in certain locations for a specific period of a few hours,” he stressed.
He also commented on the statements of Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. In her speech she said she used the expression “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Tlaib received a reprimand from the US Congress.
“From the river to the sea means there is no Israel, from the Jordan to the Mediterranean,” Netanyahu said. “What this congresswoman is calling for is genocide, the elimination of the only state of the Jewish people. This is absurd and I commend Congress for censoring it,” he added.