“Israel will exercise total security control over Gaza, with complete freedom of action”, promises the Israeli Defense Minister.
The Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katzguaranteed this Tuesday that Israel must have “a full security control” over the Gaza Strip at the end of the ongoing war in Palestinian territory.
“After eliminating Hamas’ military and governmental power in Gaza, Israel will exercise full security control over Gaza, with complete freedom of actionjust as happened in Judea and Samaria [o nome que Israel dá à Cisjordânia, o território palestiniano que ocupa desde 1967]”, Katz on the social network X, clarifying, however, that this is a personal position.
“We will not allow any organization against Israeli communities and Israeli citizens coming from Gaza. We will allow a return to the reality before October 7th”, he concluded.
Opposite positioning to its predecessor
The future governance of the Gaza Strip has been the subject of speculation for months in Israel, the Palestinian Territories and the international community.
Katz’s predecessor, Yoav Gallant, called for any lasting Israeli control of the Gaza Strip after the war.
“I will not accept the establishment of an Israeli military administration in Gaza, Israel must not have civilian control over the Gaza Strip,” Gallant stated in May.
“Palestinians live” in the Gaza Strip, […] as a result, the Palestinians will rule it in the future. The future government of Gaza must come from the Gaza Strip and be based on forces that do not threaten the State of Israel”, continued Gallant, who at the time appealed to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to make a commitment in this regard.
However, in November, due to disagreements over the conduct of the war in Gaza, he appointed Katz.
The current Minister of Defense is considered by Israeli political commentators to be more inclined to adopt Netanyahu’s positionsaccording to AFP.
The Israeli army occupied the Gaza Strip from 1967 to 2005, when it unilaterally withdrew, sometimes forcibly displacing Israeli settlers who had moved into the Palestinian enclave.
The extremist group Hamas, which won the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, took power in Gaza in 2007, after months of clashes with other political movements, including Fatah, owned by the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
