Israel will control security in the Gaza Strip for an unspecified amount of time after the conclusion of its war against Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday in a clear sign that Jerusalem doesn’t intend to permit a return to the status quo inside the Palestinian enclave for the foreseeable future.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last month said ending Israel’s responsibility over the Gaza Strip and establishing a “new security reality” for the people of Israel was one of the objectives of their military campaign against Hamas.
But in an interview with ABC News, Mr. Netanyahu on Monday seemed to put his defense minister’s post-war plans for Gaza on hold.
“I think Israel, for an indefinite period, will have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it,” he said. “When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine.”
The Israeli prime minister also pushed back against the idea of a full cease-fire inside Gaza, until Hamas releases hundreds of hostages it took during its Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel that killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
“As far as tactical little pauses — an hour here, an hour there — we’ve had them before … to enable goods, humanitarian goods, to come in, or our hostages, individual hostages, to leave,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “But, I don’t think there’s going to be a general cease-fire.”
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The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry claims the monthlong conflict has killed more than 10,000 people of which more than 4,000 are children. But those figures could not be independently confirmed.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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