Blinken warns Israel of prolonged insurgency in Gaza

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Wednesday that Israel could face a prolonged insurgency in Gaza if it does not shift from military operations to a political strategy.

Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, Blinken said Israel, from a military perspective, accomplished “significant and important strategic goals.”

But “the question now is, how do you translate those into enduring political success?” he added.

Noting that Israel has achieved its goals, including ensuring that the cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 never happens again, dismantling its military capacity, he stressed the importance of moving beyond military actions.

“Now is the time, assuming we get the hostages back, to move this to another place where they’re not left holding the bag in Gaza,” Blinken said.

“If they do, if they wind up holding the bag, they’ll be dealing with an insurgency for years. That’s not in their interest.”

He called for a framework that prevents Hamas from regaining control of Gaza while ensuring that Israel is not tasked with governing the territory. He said a “coherent” approach is necessary to establish governance, security and reconstruction in the enclave.

“Gaza has to be translated into something different, that ensures that Hamas is not in any way in charge, that Israel doesn’t have to be, and that there’s something coherent that follows, that enables the governance, the security, the reconstruction of Gaza,” he said.

On the talks to reach a cease-fire and hostage exchange deal, Blinken said the administration will use “every minute of every day of every week that we have left to try to get this done.”

“I don’t want to hazard a guess as to what the probability is. It should happen. It needs to happen. We need to get people home. We need to get the cease-fire. We need to get people moving in a different direction, toward better lives, toward repairing the terrible damage that’s been done.”

“The entire world wants to see that happen,” he said. “We also can’t have Hamas not only holding hostage the individuals that it took on Oct. 7 but literally holding the Palestinian people in Gaza hostage to its view of the future.”