Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday said that any future cease-fire agreement with the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip must ensure that the enclave would be demilitarized.
"The Gaza strip must become a demilitarized zone as an integral part of the reconstruction operation," Rivlin said during a meeting with visiting Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende.
The Israeli president also stressed the need to control the transfer of funds into Gaza in order to avoid the possibility of Hamas taking over the money.
Israel's recent offensive on the Gaza Strip ended with the announcement on August 26 of an open-ended cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian resistance factions.
The devastating 51-day offensive on Gaza left some 2,147 people dead and 11,000 injured – the vast majority of them civilians – while leaving thousands of residential structures in ruins.
According to Israeli figures, 67 Israeli soldiers and five civilians were killed over the course of the operation – the highest military death toll suffered by Israel since it lost 119 troops in its 2006 war on Lebanon.
The Palestinians and the Israelis agreed to resume indirect talks within a month on fixing the cease-fire as well as other issues, including the establishment of an airport and a sea port in Gaza, the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and the reconstruction of the enclave.
Egypt has not officially invited the Palestinians or the Israelis to resume the indirect cease-fire talks in Cairo yet. It is not clear when these talks will start either.
An international donor conference for the reconstruction of the embattled Gaza Strip is scheduled for next month in Egypt.
By Anees Barghouthy
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
