Israel has no intention of occupying Gaza Strip – Israeli official

Israel is not planning a long-term occupation of the Gaza Strip after the war against Hamas, but it will be responsible for security in the region.

Source: CNN with reference to Mark Regev, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Senior Advisor for Foreign Affairs and International Communications

Quote from Regev: "I think you could expect something more fluid, something more flexible where we can move in and move out as need be to deal with the security situation. We're not talking about any sort of ongoing occupation of the Gaza Strip."

Details: Commenting on Netanyahu's remarks that Israel will have "overall security responsibility" in Gaza for an indefinite period after the war ends, Regev said that it is different from occupation as it is about security presence, not political control.

Quote from Regev: "When this is over and we have defeated Hamas, it is crucial that there won’t be a resurgent terrorist element, a resurgent Hamas. There is no point doing this and just going back to square one. There will have to be an Israeli security presence, but that doesn’t mean Israel is re-occupying Gaza, that doesn’t mean that Israel is there to govern the Gazans."

Details: Regev stressed that Israel is "establishing new frameworks, where the Gazans can rule themselves, where there can be international support for the reconstruction of Gaza."

"Hopefully, we can bring in countries — Arab countries as well — for a reconstruction of a demilitarised, post-Hamas Gaza," he summed up.

Previously: The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) reported they had completely encircled the city of Gaza and divided the coastal enclave in two.

Background:

• On 31 October, the IDF reported that its forces had attacked Hamas militants in an extensive network of Gaza tunnels. 
• On 2 November, the IDF said ground forces had clashed with Hamas terrorist cells in the northern part of the Gaza Strip on the night of 1-2 November, killing dozens of militants. 
• Engineering troops of the IDF launched a large-scale operation to destroy Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip, which had already been entered by the IDF troops; over 100 tunnels were destroyed.
• The IDF said they were operating inside the city of Gaza. They are surrounding it from several sides.
• Ghazi Hamad, a senior member of Hamas, welcomed the large-scale attack on Israel on 7 October, during which civilians were killed en masse, and promised that the Palestinian terrorist group would repeat such attacks many times in the future until it destroyed Israel.

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