On July 25 (local time), one of the highest-ranking officials in the US military said that Israel has yet to provide much information about its post-war plan for the Gaza Strip after the conflict between Israel and Hamas ends.
The US Air Force General, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, made these comments after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before the US Congress on July 24 about a rather vague plan to “deradicalize” Gaza after the war.
“I don’t see a lot of detail in the plan that they’ve provided,” Brown said at a Pentagon news conference. “This is an issue that we’ll work with them to address.”
For months, Washington has repeatedly urged Israel to come up with a realistic post-war plan for Gaza, warning that the absence of one could spark chaos and a possible resurgence of Hamas in the Palestinian territory.
“On the post-war issue, we have discussed this with the Israelis, on how to transfer power. We have discussed it with them a number of times,” General Brown said.
Late on July 25, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Israel had not provided many details about its post-war plans but discussions were continuing.
“We have discussed this issue many times and they have a different position than the position they held many months ago, when they did not consider any post-war planning. We have reached a stage where we are engaged in discussions and the Israeli side has made a number of proposals,” the US State Department spokesman stressed. The Palestinian side asserted that ending the Israeli occupation and establishing a new Palestinian state could bring lasting peace.
But in his speech to Congress, Netanyahu made no mention of a path to a Palestinian state after the Gaza war, a plan he and members of his far-right coalition have vehemently opposed even as the Biden administration has urged Israel to accept it.
Hamas took control of Gaza in 2006 after Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from the enclave in 2005. Israel still controls the routes into Gaza.
The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 39,000 people. The war was sparked on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants launched an attack on southern Israel that left 1,200 people dead and 250 hostages.
Nguyen Quang Minh (according to Reuters)
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