Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday there was no way to prepare for a postwar vision for Gaza until Hamas is defeated militarily. Netanyahu appeared to be fending off criticism that he is allowing Hamas to regroup and squandering Israeli military gains in the Gaza Strip by not deciding on a plan for the embattled territory once the war is over.
Quick Read
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserts there’s no way to prepare a postwar vision for Gaza until the war concludes and Hamas is defeated.
- Netanyahu faces domestic and U.S. criticism for not presenting a plan for Gaza’s governance and rebuilding post-conflict.
- Efforts to involve local Palestinians in aid distribution failed due to alleged threats from Hamas.
- Netanyahu commits to ongoing Israeli security control over Gaza, rejecting the re-establishment of the Palestinian Authority in the region.
- The U.N. predicts a significant delay in Gaza’s reconstruction, likening the destruction to World War II levels, estimating restoration by 2040 if conflict ceased today.
The Associated Press has the story:
Netanyahu: There’s no way to prepare a postwar vision for Gaza until war is over
Newslooks- JERUSALEM — (AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday there was no way to prepare for a postwar vision for Gaza until Hamas is defeated militarily.
Netanyahu appeared to be fending off criticism that he is allowing Hamas to regroup and squandering Israeli military gains in the Gaza Strip by not deciding on a plan for the embattled territory once the war is over.
Netanyahu has faced increased criticism both domestically and from the U.S., Israel’s top ally, over its postwar vision for Gaza. In a pair of interviews this week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration hadn’t yet seen Israel’s plans for governance and rebuilding in Gaza, saying it expected to see such a plan.
In a statement from his office, Netanyahu said Israel had tried to enlist local Palestinians to assist with food distribution but the effort failed because Hamas threatened them, a claim that could not be verified. He said Israel was engaged in other attempts to implement a postwar reality in Gaza that he did not describe.
“While Hamas remains intact, talk of ‘the day after’ will remain just talk, devoid of content,” he said. Israeli forces are fighting in parts of Gaza, including the decimated north, that the military said had been cleared by ground troops earlier in the war.
Netanyahu has said Israel will maintain open-ended security control of the Gaza Strip. The U.S. says it won’t accept a return of Israeli military occupation of the Gaza Strip.
The U.S., as a precursor to creating a Palestinian state, has called for a political roadmap that includes a return to Gaza of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which Hamas ousted from Gaza in 2007.
Netanyahu and his right-wing government reject a role in Gaza for the Palestinian Authority, and say they will never allow a Palestinian state.
The world hasn’t seen anything like the unprecedented destruction of housing in Gaza since World War II, and it would take at least until 2040 to restore the homes devastated in Israel’s bombing and ground offensive if the conflict ended today, the United Nations reported earlier this month.
