The Israeli PM has insisted that his country will not govern the Palestinian enclave after routing Hamas, leaving the task to Arab nations
Israel does not intend to establish its own governing body in Gaza after its military campaign against Hamas concludes and would rather see Arab neighbors assume responsibility for the Palestinian enclave, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated.
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Netanyahu was asked whether Israel would take control of the entire Gaza Strip. He responded: “We intend to, in order to ensure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza [Hamas] and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel.”
Netanyahu insisted that Israel doesn’t “want to keep it [Gaza],” but rather “have a security perimeter.” The prime minister added that “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.”
Israel controlled Gaza from 1967 until its unilateral withdrawal in 2005.
Earlier this month, several Israeli media outlets reported that Netanyahu had told ministers he would seek cabinet backing for a plan to fully occupy Gaza, despite objections from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The Jewish state and the militant group agreed to a fragile three-stage ceasefire in January, only for Israel to resume military action in March amid mutual recriminations with Hamas. Since then, the two belligerents have sporadically engaged in talks, which have failed to yield any breakthrough.
In February, US President Donald Trump proposed a plan envisioning the relocation of the Gaza population to neighboring states of “great wealth.”
A group of Arab nations rejected the proposal shortly thereafter, as did Russia.
The conflict between Hamas and Israel broke out in October of 2023 after a surprise attack by Hamas in southern Israel left about 1,200 people dead and 250 taken hostage. According to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, the Israeli military campaign has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians.
The UN, multiple humanitarian organizations, and several European governments have accused Israel of indiscriminately striking residential areas and preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the enclave’s population.
