Israel will maintain responsibility for security in the Gaza Strip indefinitely, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We saw what happens when we don’t have them,” Netanyahu said in an interview with US broadcaster ABC, when asked who would govern the area after the end of the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian organization Hamas.
“Because if we do not have control over security, Hamas terror will explode on a scale we cannot imagine,” Netanyahu said.
There is no more ceasefire
He initially ruled out a longer ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. “Without the release of the hostages, there will be no general ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.”
“As far as tactical pauses go – an hour here, an hour there – we can analyze the circumstances to bring in humanitarian supplies and evacuate individual hostages. But I don’t think there will be a general ceasefire.”
Phone call with Biden
Netanyahu had already spoken with US President Joe Biden about a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza war. They discussed the possibility of “tactical pauses” to allow civilians to exit combat zones, to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of the Gaza Strip and to allow for the release of additional hostages, the White House said after the call.