Netanyahu: Discussions about postwar Gaza meaningless until Hamas is defeated

Israel has been dealing with the question of who will run Gaza after Hamas for months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says in a video statement.

Netanyahu says that he approved a plan over three months ago for Gazans unaffiliated with Hamas to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza, but that plan failed because Hamas threatened and attacked them.

“Until it becomes clear that Hamas doesn’t rule Gaza militarily, no actor will be ready to accept upon himself the civil rule of Gaza out of fear for his own safety,” Netanyahu argues.

He says that any discussions of the “day after” are meaningless until Hamas is defeated.

He adds that Israel is working to find solutions to the issue of the civil rule of Gaza, and some of what Israel has been doing is confidential.

“There is no alternative to a military victory,” says Netanyahu. “The attempt to bypass it with all sorts of claims is simply detached from reality. There is only one alternative to victory — defeat. A military and diplomatic defeat, a national defeat. My government will never agree to this.”

Netanyahu says that Israel is evacuating civilians from Rafah, and almost 500,000 have left so far.

“The humanitarian disaster they spoke about did not take place, nor will it,” he insists.

He also decries the UN General Assembly vote last week expanding Palestine’s status at the international body. “No one will prevent us, Israel, from fulfilling our basic right to defend ourselves,” he says, “not the UN General Assembly and not any other actor.”