In contradiction to Netanyahu
USA rejects permanent occupation of Gaza
November 7th, 2023, 10:35 p.m
What will happen to the Gaza Strip after the end of Israel’s war against Hamas is unclear. Unlike Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, the USA speaks out against a long-term occupation of the area. However, according to Washington, there will be no return to the status quo.
The US has spoken out against Israel’s renewed long-term occupation of the Gaza Strip. “In general, we do not support the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and neither does Israel,” a US State Department spokesman, Vedant Patel, told reporters. “We believe that Palestinians must be at the forefront of these decisions and that the Gaza Strip is and will remain Palestinian land,” Patel said.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously declared that he wanted to assume “overall responsibility for the security” of the Palestinian territory for an “indefinite period” after the war. “We have seen what happens when we don’t have them,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview with the US broadcaster ABC. “Because if we don’t have control over security, Hamas’ terror will erupt on a scale we cannot imagine.”
US State Department: No return to the status quo
The US agreed that there could be “no return to the status quo” in the Gaza Strip after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Patel said. “Israel and the region must be safe, and the Gaza Strip should and can no longer be a base for terrorist attacks against the Israeli people or anyone else,” the spokesman reiterated.
Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, which it had occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War. After the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas took control of the area, Israel implemented a blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of Hamas fighters invaded Israel on October 7 and committed atrocities against civilians in a number of towns and at a music festival. According to Israeli information, around 1,400 people were killed and more than 240 others were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip. In response to the Hamas attack, Israel launched massive airstrikes on targets in the densely populated Gaza Strip and launched a ground offensive.