By Luis de Jesus
07 Nov 2023, 22:29 PM EST
The United States government reiterated this Tuesday its rejection of Israel occupying the Gaza Strip once the current armed conflict ends.
This was reported by John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, following statements that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave to the American news network ABC.
“President Biden has been very clear: we do not support a reoccupation of Gaza by the Israeli defense forces,” the spokesperson said at a press conference, although he did not directly refer to the terms used by the Israeli authority.
John Kirby highlighted the need for healthy conversations about what post-conflict Gaza should look like and how it should be governed, in the eventual scenario of Israeli forces eliminating Hamas terrorists.
“What we absolutely agree with our Israeli counterparts on is that it cannot look like it did on October 6 (a day before Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel),” he said.
Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC that Israel will have, for an indefinite period, overall responsibility for security in the strip. “Because we have seen what happens when we don’t have it,” he added. The prime minister said that otherwise there will be an eruption of Hamas terror “on an unimaginable scale.”
In response to the Hamas attack, which left more than 1,400 dead, the Israeli Army began an offensive in Gaza that has caused more than 10,320 deaths, including 4,237 children, Efe indicated.
Netanyahu’s statements came hours after he held a telephone conversation with President Joe Biden, who asked him to pause the offensive against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Already on October 15, the Democratic president had warned Israel that it would be a big mistake for it to occupy the Gaza Strip again. “What happened in Gaza, in my opinion, is that Hamas and the extreme elements of Hamas do not represent all the Palestinian people. And I think it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza again,” Biden emphasized at the time in an interview with CBS.
Keep reading:
• Joe Biden spoke by phone with Benjamin Netanyahu and asked him for a pause in the offensive in Gaza
• McConnell criticized Obama and Tlaib for comments about Israel and Hamas
• Why is a US senator calling for banning TikTok?