Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel plans to take military control of the Gaza Strip before transferring governance to “Arab forces”.
Speaking to Fox News ahead of a security cabinet meeting on Thursday evening, Netanyahu confirmed the intention to take control of the entire 42-kilometre enclave.
“We intend to,” he said when asked if Israel wanted full control.
The prime minister stressed Israel did not wish to govern Gaza permanently, instead aiming to create “a security perimeter”.
“We don’t want to keep it,” he said. “We want to have a security perimeter. We don’t want to govern it. We don’t want to be there as a governing body. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life. That’s not possible with Hamas.”
The security cabinet meeting came after what officials described as a tense discussion earlier in the week with Israel’s military chief, who reportedly pushed back against expanding the campaign.
Hamas condemned Netanyahu’s remarks, calling them “a blatant coup” against ceasefire negotiations.
“Netanyahu’s plans to expand the aggression confirm beyond any doubt that he seeks to get rid of his captives and sacrifice them,” the group said in a statement.
Israel already controls around three-quarters of Gaza’s territory, much of which has been devastated by the ongoing military campaign. Netanyahu did not specify which Arab countries might take over governance.
Responding to his comments, a Jordanian official told Reuters: “Arabs will not be agreeing to Netanyahu’s policies nor clean his mess.” The official added: “Arabs will only support what Palestinians agree and decide on. Security in Gaza must be done through legitimate Palestinian institutions.”
Source: ABC News
