White House says it does not support Israel re-occupying Gaza after war

Washington: The White House on Tuesday reiterated that President Joe Biden does not support an Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip once the war ends.

Asked about Netanyahu’s comments, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he would leave it to Netanyahu to clarify what he means by having “indefinite” control of Gaza’s security.

“There needs to be a healthy set of conversations about what post conflict Gaza looks like and what governance looks like,” Kirby told reporters. “What we absolutely agree with our Israeli counterparts on is what it can’t look like, and it can’t look like it looked on October 6.”

Biden previously said it would be a “mistake” for Israel to occupy Gaza.

A month of relentless bombardment in Gaza since the Hamas attack has killed more than 10,300 Palestinians two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory, whose figures have largely held up under scrutiny following previous wars. More than 2,300 are believed to have been buried by strikes that in some cases have demolished entire city blocks.

In the October 7 incursion, Hamas militants killed over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and captured 242, including men, women, children and older adults. Israel says 30 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground offensive began, and Palestinian militants have continued to fire rockets into Israel on a daily basis.

The death toll on both sides is without precedent in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence.