Israel has no intention of reoccupying Gaza, says official

Israel has no intention of reoccupying the Gaza Strip or controlling it for “a long time”, a senior Israeli official told Reuters.

“We assess that our current operations are effective and successful and we’ll continue to push,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “It’s not unlimited or for ever.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the US broadcaster ABC on Monday that Israel would take responsibility for security in Gaza for an “indefinite period”.

“The language is vague here, and I don’t think that the full meaning of it has been thought out in specific terms," Yonatan Touval, an analyst at the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies (Mitvim), told Middle East Eye on Tuesday.