Israel has no intention of handing Gaza over to the PA once the war is over, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday night as he rebuffed US pressure to do so.
“The Palestinian Authority in its current form is not able to take responsibility for Gaza,” Netanyahu said. “After we fought and did all this, how could we hand it over to them?”
Netanyahu stated, “There is another condition that I set for the day after: the IDF will have complete freedom of action in the Gaza Strip against any threat. Only in this way will we guarantee the demilitarization of Gaza.”
He added that he has clarified that Israel won’t agree to a ceasefire until it has ousted Hamas, and it would only agree to a temporary one in exchange for the return of all the hostages. Netanyahu stressed that Israel won’t rest in its pursuit of eliminating Hamas, noting “all Hamas members are dead men whether they are located in or out of Gaza.”
The pain of the Gush Katif expulsion in 2005 still lingers. Since then, the PA has proven itself to be void of any serious leadership and only has evil intentions against Israel. Israeli demilitarization over Gaza is now mandatory. This time Israel must get it right.