Netanyahu ruled out a role for the current Palestinian Authority leadership in ruling Gaza. (File)
Ramallah, Palestinian Territories:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday ruled out a role for the current Palestinian Authority government in Gaza once the war between Israel and Hamas is over.
“There has to be something different,” he said when asked whether the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has partial administrative control in the occupied West Bank, would be allowed to rule Gaza after the war.
“There will be no civil authority that will raise its children to hate Israel, kill Israelis and eradicate the State of Israel.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said late last month that the Palestinian Authority should take back control of the Gaza Strip from Hamas, with international actors possibly taking on a role in the meantime.
But in a meeting with Blinken earlier this month, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the PA could only take power in Gaza if a “comprehensive political solution” was found to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict spanning the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the USA includes Gaza Strip.
According to Israeli officials, Hamas gunmen crossed the border from Gaza into Israel on October 7 in an unprecedented attack that killed about 1,200 people. In retaliation, Israel announced it would destroy Hamas and began a relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip, killing over 11,000 people in Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory, according to the Health Ministry.
“There can be no authority headed by someone who, more than 30 days after the massacre, has still not condemned the terrible massacre,” Netanyahu said on Saturday.
“But one way or another there will have to be our security check,” he said.
In an interview earlier this week, Netanyahu said Israel would take over “general security” over Gaza “for an indefinite period” after the war.
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