PM: Day after war, IDF will maintain responsibility for security in Gaza

At the continuing Tel Aviv press conference, Netanyahu is asked whether US envoy Amos Hochstein is mediating efforts regarding Hezbollah and the northern border.

He doesn’t answer directly regarding Hochstein. But he says there is a series of imperatives Israel is dealing with.

First, there needs to be “crushing victory” over Hamas, with Hezbollah deterred in the north, he says. Once Hamas is destroyed, Israel will focus on the north, where almost 100,000 Israelis are currently displaced from their homes.

Either there will be a diplomatic situation on the northern border, “or there will be a different way” to solve the situation, he says.

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz, alongside Netanyahu, is asked whether he is prepared to state categorically that he opposes Palestinian statehood. Gantz says that first the war must be won, “and dealing with anything else is politics, and I don’t intend to get into that.”

Netanyahu is asked whether he passed up an opportunity to send the head of the Mossad to talks in Qatar on a new hostage deal a few days ago. He says he won’t make the mistake of telling Israel’s enemies about its considerations. He says Israel is also “negotiating” with the enemy via “blood, fire and pillars of smoke.”

He says the combination of military force and diplomatic efforts secured the release of 110 hostages last month.

Regarding Hamas’s conditions for a deal, he says “they have all kinds of demands” including that “the war end and [Israel’s] troops are booted out… The minute we capitulate to that, Hamas wins. And we are obligated to eliminate [Hamas] and to get all the hostages back.”

Asked what his vision is for Gaza on the day after the war, Netanyahu says: “I said there will be demilitarization. I said the IDF will be responsible for security in the Gaza Strip, because there is no other factor that will ensure the fight against terrorism. And I can tell you that there will be a civil governance that does not educate its children to destroy Israel… I’m very clear on this.”

He says much of Israel backs this, and that he has championed it for a long, long time.

Regarding a New York Times report on Mossad revelations regarding Hamas’s money machine, and Israel’s failure to tackle the issue, Netanyahu says he is not aware of the report. “After the war,” all these and other matters will be thoroughly investigated, he says.