Gaza must be demilitarized after war, Israel says

JERUSALEM

Israel on Tuesday called for demilitarizing the Gaza Strip and establishing a temporary security zone inside the territory after the end of the Israeli war.

“Gaza must be turned into a demilitarized zone, and Israel must ensure that the strip will never constitute a base for launching attacks against it,” Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told reporters.

“This will require the establishment of a temporary security zone along the Gaza border with Israel,” he added.

The Israeli spokesman also called for forming inspection and inspection mechanisms along the border between Gaza and Egypt “to prevent the smuggling of weapons” into the territory.

“For the foreseeable future, Israel will retain the security responsibility in the Gaza Strip,” Gendelman said.

In response to a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, Israel launched air and ground attacks on the coastal territory and has since killed at least 20,915 people, most of them women and children.

The onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million people displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.

Tel Aviv has vowed to destroy Hamas and ensure the release of all hostages taken during the October attack. Some of them were returned after a weeklong humanitarian pause in November in exchange for some Palestinian prisoners.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio