Israel-Gaza War: Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said that there might be a need for a “very strong force” to remain in Gaza for the near future to prevent the Hamas militant group from re-emerging after the end of the war. However, United States President Joe Biden warned Israel against occupying Gaza, calling it “a big mistake”.
In an interview to Financial Times, Herzog said, “If we pull back, then who will take over? We can’t leave a vacuum. We have to think about what the mechanism will be; there are many ideas that are thrown in the air,” said in an interview with the FT published on Thursday. “But no one will want to turn this place, Gaza, into a terror base again”, he added.
Speaking to FT, Herzog said that Israel’s government was discussing many ideas about how Gaza would be run once the war ends. He further stated that he assumed that the US and “our neighbours in the region” would have some involvement in the post-conflict order.
Earlier on Wednesday, Joe Biden said that he had clarified to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that a two-state solution was the only way to resolve the conflict between Israel and Palestine and that occupying Gaza would be “a big mistake”.