Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Thursday that Hamas will be disarmed and the Gaza Strip demilitarized, asserting that if the international community doesn’t do it, then Israel will. Netanyahu’s comments came even as the US continues to lead efforts to put together a force that will be both willing to see through the disarmament mission and be acceptable to Israel, which continues to insist on excluding Turkey, which is keen to participate.
Israel “has more work” to do in Gaza, Netanyahu said, speaking at an Israel Defense Forces cadets’ graduation ceremony at the Bahad 1 officers’ school in southern Israel. “At the end of the day, Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarized,” he promised. “If foreign troops do it, great. If they don’t do it, we will.”
Violations of the US-brokered ceasefire that halted the war in Gaza will be met with “powerful attacks,” he said of the truce, which has at times unraveled only to be stitched back together amid strong pressure from Washington that it hold up. A second stage of the US plan, dealing with the longer-term future of Gaza, calls for Hamas to disarm and the territory to be demilitarized, under the supervision of an international military force. (Read More)
