Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Says Israeli Military Must Remain In Gaza After War

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (black clothes) visited his troops in Gaza November 26. (Source: GPO/Avi Ohayon)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) must maintain control over the ceasefire of the Gaza Strip after the war, rejecting the idea that international forces could be responsible for security in the Palestinian enclave.

This is not the first time Netanyahu has called for postwar Israeli military control in Gaza.

The day after (war): Gaza must be stripped. And for Gaza to be stripped, there is only one force that can confirm it and that power is the IDF," PM Netanyahu told a news conference.

"No international force is responsible for that," he continued.

"We saw what was happening elsewhere where international troops were deployed for the purpose of gunfire," he said.

It is known that Gaza's future solution after the war has not yet come to light, except to ensure Hamas does not return to power in the region.

The United Nations itself assesses that the protectorates such as those that have been carried out in Kosovo and Timor Leste are too high a risk of being implemented in Gaza after the war.

Separately, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi rejected the idea of sending Arab peacekeepers to Gaza after the war ended to prevent the rise of Hamas and provide overall security.

"No Arab troops will go to Gaza, nothing will exist," he said, quoted by The National News.

A plan to place Arab troops in Gaza after the war ended will send a message to Israel that they have the freedom to destroy the enclave, Safadi said.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken firmly rejected the idea that the Gaza Strip would be occupied again by Israel, at a meeting of foreign ministers in Tokyo on November 8.

Blinken outlined his comprehensive vision for Gaza's future, stressing the importance of a Palestinian-led government and the unification of Gaza with the West Bank currently occupied by Israel under the Palestinian Authority.