US defense secretary: ‘Ongoing instability and insecurity only play into Hamas’s hands’

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin suggests that failure by Israel to move toward a two-state solution after the war in Gaza would only lead to more instability and play into Hamas’s hands.

“We know that the past 72 days have been some of the most painful days in Israel’s history,” Austin says at a joint press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv.

“But it would compound this tragedy if all that was waiting for the Israeli people and your Palestinian neighbors at the end of this awful war was more insecurity, fear and despair,” Austin continues.

“Israelis and Palestinians have both paid too big a price to just go back to October 6. So I discussed pathways today toward a future for Gaza after Hamas, based upon the clear principles laid down last month by my friend, Secretary Blinken,” the US defense chief says, referring to the principles presented by the Biden administration last month.

These are: no use of Gaza as a platform of terror against Israel; no displacement of Palestinians in Gaza; no re-occupation of Gaza by Israel; no blockade or siege of Gaza; no reduction of Gaza’s territory; and postwar governance in Gaza that reunites the territory with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.

“Israelis and Palestinians both deserve a horizon of hope,” Austin says. “So the United States continues to believe — as we have under administrations of both parties — that it is in the interest of both Israelis and Palestinians to move forward towards two states, living side by side and in mutual security.”

“We know how hard that is, especially after October 7. But ongoing instability and insecurity only play into the hands of Hamas,” the Pentagon chief asserts, while adding that the US will continue to support Israel’s security along the way.