Blinken: Gaza war can’t end with Israeli occupation, Hamas rule or leadership vacuum

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledges that recently, “the Israelis talk about a significant downshifting of their operations in Gaza. That remains to be seen.”

“When this conflict ends, it cannot and must not end with a vacuum in Gaza. It has to end in a way that makes sure that there are clear, coherent, achievable plans for Gaza’s governance, security and reconstruction,” Blinken says during an on-stage interview at the Brookings Institution.

“The post-conflict plans are critical because if we get to a moment where the conflict really does shift dramatically at home — [hopefully]… via a ceasefire — if we’re not ready, if the region’s not ready, then you’re going to have a vacuum, and vacuums tend to get filled by bad things before they get filled with good things.

“We know that there are three things that are unacceptable for Gaza’s future: an Israeli occupation; Hamas perpetuating its leadership; or chaos, anarchy, lawlessness — which is what we’re seeing in big parts of Gaza today.

“We’ve told the Israelis that we expected them to develop their own plans, their own ideas. We’ve not seen enough of that from Israel,” Blinken laments.