The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu He suggested that when the war is over, Israel could temporarily take charge of security in the Gaza Strip “indefinitely,” while this Tuesday marks one month since the Hamas attack that kidnapped more than 200 people .

This Tuesday, Israeli officials rejected a ceasefire in the war against the Hamas militia, despite repeated calls for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, where land, sea and air attacks by Israeli forces continue, killing more than 10,300. deaths have occurred in the enclave. , according to the Palestinian movement.

Israeli bombardments continued overnight on Palestinian territory controlled by the Islamist movement, killing more than 100 people, according to the Hamas Health Ministry.

The Israeli leader ignored US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s call for a temporary ceasefire during his confirmation hearing last weekend, and did so again yesterday in a phone call with US President Joe Biden.

Netanyahu makes the immediate release of all abductees a condition and is only open to ‘small humanitarian breaks’.

Against the terror of Hamas

“I believe that Israel will have overall responsibility for security indefinitely, because we have seen what happens when we don’t have it,” Netanyahu said in an interview with ABC last night, responding to a mystery that has has resonated since Israel launched its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip ten days ago.

“If we don’t have that responsibility in terms of security, what we have is an outbreak of Hamas terror on a scale we couldn’t imagine,” he added regarding the Islamist group’s brutal attack on Israeli territory on October 7. , which left 1,400 dead – most of them civilians – and kidnapped 240, sparking the start of the current war.

The intense Israeli bombing and aggressive ground offensive have already caused more than 10,320 deaths, including 4,237 children in the Gaza Strip; as it plunges into the worst humanitarian catastrophe in its history, with hardly any food, drinking water, medicine or fuel. The humanitarian aid that is coming in piecemeal is insufficient.

Doris Liber cries as she talks about the last time she spoke with her son, Guy Iluz, who was kidnapped by Hamas, during a press conference calling for the release of hostages at the U.S. Capitol on November 7, 2023. in Washington, D.C. Photo: AFP

The prime minister — who has yet to take any responsibility for the intelligence failure that allowed more than 3,000 Hamas men to enter Israel because of that unprecedented aggression — has not specified who should take control of the Gaza Strip, which has been under the control of the Gaza Strip since 2007. is de facto ruled by Hamas after the war.

“Those who do not want to follow the path of Hamas,” replied Netanyahu vaguely, whose statements contrast with messages from other Israeli officials, who have emphasized throughout that month that the country has no intention of leaving the enclave, home to 2.3 million Palestinians and from which Israel unilaterally withdrew in 2005.

Biden against the occupation

The Biden administration has expressed its opposition to an Israeli reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and asked it to develop a plan for who will govern once Hamas is removed from power; as more and more eyes turn to an unpopular Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which controls small areas of the West Bank occupied by Israel since 1967.

On his third tour of the region since the start of the war, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a surprise visit on Sunday to Ramallah – the administrative capital of the ANP – where he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who was very had been delegitimized among the Palestinian population.

In his conversation with Blinken, Abbas called for an “immediate” end to the “destructive war” between Israel and Hamas and said he was ready to “assume responsibilities” for Gaza within the framework of a “comprehensive political solution.”

Do I order the ANP?

Regarding the political future of post-war Gaza, Itamar Yaar, a retired Israeli army colonel, indicated today that once Israel ends the Hamas regime, “the only option is for an international force to take temporary control,” preferably formed by Arab countries in Gaza. the region.

A multi-faith group of Israelis and Palestinians observe a 15-minute silence for the victims of the October 7 attack by Hamas on the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, Israel, on November 7, 2023. Photo: EFE

“We should not be the ones to take on this responsibility,” said this security expert with extensive military experience in Gaza.

According to Yaar, the “most realistic” alternative is for the ANP to take political control of the post-Hamas strip from the hands of that temporary international power; although he admitted that it is an approach that will not enjoy broad support from Israeli society, which is increasingly right-wing and in favor of the annexation of the Palestinian territories. (JO)