Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said Israel will take “overall security responsibility” of the Gaza Strip for an indefinite period once war with Hamas ends, citing that it is necessary to prevent incidents like October 7.
“Israel will, for an indefinite period, have the overall security responsibility. 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,” Netanyahu said in a television interview with ABC News.
Netanyahu also said a general ceasefire will be discussed only when hostages are released. “There will be no ceasefire — general ceasefire — in Gaza, without the release of our hostages,” he said.
Netanyahu on Tuesday evening (local time) spoke to US President Joe Biden but rejected calls for a ceasefire. A readout by the White House said that both leaders “welcomed the increase in humanitarian assistance” and “the possibility of tactical pauses to provide civilians with opportunities to safely depart” areas witnessing active war.
Biden urged Netanyahu to take action against and hold “extremist settlers accountable for violent acts” in the West Bank. Netanyahu, when asked about tactical pauses to allow humanitarian aid, said these pauses have been implemented before. “As far as tactical, little pauses — an hour here, an hour there — we’ve had them before, Israel may agree to pauses to let humanitarian goods into Gaza, or to allow for hostages to leave,” he said.
Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel from Gaza on October 7, killing some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, including through targeting homes and revellers at a music festival.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes have killed 10,222 people, including more than 4,000 children, in the densely populated and besieged Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The scale of Israel’s retaliation has sparked condemnation for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has forced world leaders to call for ceasefire and de-escalation in violence.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned that the bombarded Gaza Strip was becoming a “graveyard for children”. “The nightmare in Gaza is more than a humanitarian crisis. It is a crisis of humanity. The unfolding catastrophe makes the need for a humanitarian ceasefire more urgent with every passing hour,” Guterres told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, according to news agency AFP.
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