Israel says to keep military control of post-war Gaza Strip

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israel will maintain military control over the Gaza Strip after the war, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday.

''After the war, when it’s over, I think it’s completely clear that Hamas won’t control Gaza. Israel will control [it] militarily but won’t control it in a civilian sense,'' Gallant told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee as cited by a statement released by the Knesset (parliament).

''When we’re talking about military freedom of operation, look what happened tonight in Jenin,'' Gallant said, in reference to Tuesday’s assassination of three Palestinians at Ibn Sina Hospital by Israeli soldiers disguised as doctors, nurses, and civilians.

''This is military freedom of operation at the highest level, and yet we don’t control the area in a civilian sense,” Gallant said. ''This is achievable [in Gaza as well], and it will take time.”

Israel occupied the Gaza Strip following the 1967 Middle East war but withdrew from the enclave in 2005.

As for Hamas’ tunnels and military capabilities, Gallant said exposing and destroying Hamas’ existing military infrastructure is ''finite'' and is moving forward.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, killing at least 26,751 Palestinians and injuring 65,636, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio