The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the group that controls the Gaza Strip, has no end in sight; but even after the war is over, Israel will remain in charge of the overall security of Gaza indefinitely.
This information was revealed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. He also dismissed the possibility of a ceasefire in Gaza once again.
In an interview with ABC News, Netanyahu said on this matter, ‘Those who are not willing to follow Hamas should be in charge of Gaza’s governance. I think Israel should be responsible for the overall security of Gaza and for an indefinite period. Because what is happening recently, we did not want that. We did not want that.’
Hamas launched an unprovoked attack on Israeli territory on October 7, and since then, the Israeli Air Force has been conducting a campaign in Gaza. The campaign is still ongoing.
More than 1,400 Israelis and other nationals have been killed in Hamas attacks. In addition, Hamas took at least 234 people from Israel as hostages to Gaza on the first day of the attack.
On the other hand, the number of deaths in Gaza due to the Israeli Air Force’s campaign has exceeded 10,000. More than half of the dead are children and women.
According to international political analysts, this is the first time since the Arab-Israeli war of 1953 that such a large-scale conflict is taking place in the Middle East’s Al-Aqsa region. In the last month, at least 15 million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip due to the air force’s attack. Of these, nearly 670,000 people have taken refuge in schools run by UNRWA.
Israel has said that it will not stop the war until Hamas is completely eradicated. The United States and its European allies have also supported Israel’s stance. However, Russia, China, the Middle East and various countries and regions of the world and the United Nations have been calling for a ceasefire in Gaza from the beginning.
In response to a question on this issue in Monday’s interview, Netanyahu said, ‘There may be a small technical break, maybe an hour or a little more … I mean, I want to say that it will take as long as it takes to send humanitarian aid and free the hostages from Gaza. But I do not think there is any possibility of a general ceasefire there.’
He also warned Iran and Hezbollah to stay away from the war, saying, ‘I hope they will understand that if they get involved in this war, we will respond very, very strongly and I do not think they will make that mistake.’
