Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the Israeli army is the only force that can assume military responsibility for Gaza after the war and guarantee the security of his country, while declaring that he does not see any future administrative role there for the West supported Palestinian Authority – at least in its current form.
“We need to see the following two things,” Mr. Netanyahu told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Gaza must be demilitarized and Gaza must be de-radicalized. And I think so far we have not seen any Palestinian force, including the Palestinian Authority, capable of doing that.”
Asked who could therefore rule Gaza, he said it was “too early to say.” He added: “The first task we must accomplish is the defeat of Hamas.”
Mr. Netanyahu’s comments echoed comments he made to the Israeli public at a televised news conference on Saturday evening. It was his most comprehensive public description of his vision for Gaza following the end of Israel’s military campaign there against Hamas, which controls the enclave. He said Israel must maintain security control there “for as long as necessary” and have the ability to enter Gaza at will to deal with perceived threats there.
His comments seemed somewhat at odds with the Biden administration, which made clear last week that there should be no Israeli “reoccupation” of the Gaza Strip. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken left open the possibility of a “transition period” after the war, but said that administration of Gaza must ultimately “include a Palestinian-led government and a unification of Gaza with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres acknowledged the challenges ahead on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” on Sunday, saying the best-case scenario would be for a “revived Palestinian Authority” to take the lead in Gaza, where Hamas Militants they had ousted Strom in 2007.
In the best case scenario, he said, Israel would also have to agree to “negotiate a two-state solution with the support of the international community.” He added: “What would a one-state solution be with such a large number of Palestinian people without rights in this state? That would be unimaginable.”
Israel has been vague about who might run Gaza if Hamas is pushed out, even as it comes under increasing international criticism over the humanitarian crisis and the rising death toll from its airstrikes and subsequent ground invasion of the enclave. According to Gaza health authorities, more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7.
The war was sparked by a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7 that killed an estimated 1,200 people and took about 240 others hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli officials. Israel’s stated goals for the war are to crush Hamas’s military strength and ability to rule Gaza and bring the hostages home.
Asked about a possible hostage deal, Netanyahu told “Meet the Press” that “there could be one,” but added: “The less I say about it, the greater the chances that it will happen,” Israeli officials said held talks with mediators, including Qatar.
But Mr. Netanyahu has now made clear that he will not agree to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority managing civil affairs in Gaza unless it changes some of its behavior and its leader, President Mahmoud Abbas, condemns the attack on October 7, bluntly Israel – something Mr Abbas has so far refrained from doing.
In addition to the lack of conviction, Mr. Netanyahu pointed to the doctrine of hatred of Israel toward children and monetary payments to attackers convicted of attacks on Israelis – all common Israeli accusations against the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in parts of Palestine that it occupied West Bank.
“The October 7 massacre proved once and for all that terrorism takes root wherever Israel has no security control,” Netanyahu said Saturday. “In the end it comes back to meet us, and that goes for Judea and Samaria too,” he added, referring to the West Bank by its biblical names.
For this reason, he said, he would not agree to giving up security control over Gaza “under any circumstances.”
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Mr. Abbas, stressed on Sunday that any Israeli attempt to separate Gaza from the West Bank is doomed to failure. In an apparent response to Mr. Netanyahu’s comments, Mr. Abu Rudeineh said in comments carried by Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, that “the consolidation of Israeli occupation in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem would not bring security to anyone.”
Mr. Abu Rudeineh added that stability can only be achieved by ending the Israeli occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state in these areas.
Mr. Netanyahu, a conservative and Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has pressed ahead with the war despite declining approval ratings. The ultranationalist parties that form a key part of his ruling coalition do not see the Palestinian Authority as a partner, and after the October 7 attacks there is a broad consensus among Israelis that Hamas must be expelled from Gaza – even if it is completely Elimination will most likely prove impossible.
The Israeli government believes that as long as Mr. Abbas has not directly condemned Hamas for the Oct. 7 attacks, any agreement to install his authority in Gaza as a replacement for the group would make Mr. Netanyahu look weak in the eyes according to an Israeli government official who was not authorized to speak openly about internal discussions.
— Isabel Kershner reports from Jerusalem