Netanyahu says Israel intends to take control of entire Gaza

WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza and will eventually hand it over to armed forces that will govern it properly.

“We intend to,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News when asked if Israel would take control of the entire 26-mile strip. “We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don’t want to govern it. We don’t want to be there as a governing body.”

ABRAHAM ACCORDS

The remarks came on a day which also saw US President Donald Trump saying that it was important that Middle Eastern countries join the Abraham Accords.

Read more: Trump wants Middle East nations to join Abraham Accords

On Monday,  Israel’s Channel 12 cited an official from his office as saying that Netanyahu is leaning toward expanding the offensive in Gaza and seizing the entire enclave.

Read more: Netanyahu leaning towards seizing entire Gaza: Channel 12

A NEW MIDDLE EAST

The push for controlling the Gaza Strip and disarming Hamas coincides with the overall US and Israeli strategy in the volatile Middle East.

In this connection, Reuters reported on Thursday that the United States has presented Lebanon with a proposal for disarming Hezbollah by the end of the year.

As far as Israel is concerned, the plan mentions that Israeli military operations in the country would end and the withdrawal troops from five positions in south Lebanon, according to copy of a Lebanese cabinet agenda reviewed by Reuters.

Earlier on Wednesday, Hezbollah described the plan approved by Lebanon’s cabinet to disarm it by December-end as a “grave sin”.

In a written statement, Iran-backed group said that the decision was a result of US diktats and it would “deal with it as if it does not exist”.

It’s a developing story. Details to follow