Blinken urges Israel to lay out postwar plan: ‘We want to make sure Hamas can’t govern Gaza again’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel needs to have a plan for postwar governance in Gaza; otherwise, he says, there will be “a vacuum that’s likely to be filled by chaos, anarchy, and ultimately by Hamas again.”
In an interview with CBS’s “Meet the Nation,” the top US diplomat says that while Israel might have some “initial success” in a potential military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, the “high cost to civilians” would not be worth it.
Furthermore, he says that without a plan for who will take over Gaza after Hamas is defeated, Israel “will be left holding the bag on an enduring insurgency because a lot of armed Hamas [fighters] will be left, no matter what they do in Rafah.”
“If they leave and get out of Gaza, as we believe they need to do, then you’re going to have a vacuum that’s likely to be filled by chaos, anarchy, and ultimately by Hamas again,” he says.
Asked if the U.S. is pausing any weapons shipments to Israel apart from 3,500 so-called ‘dumb bombs,’ @SecBlinken says “The answer to that is no,” but adds that if Israel invades Rafah, “there's certain systems that we're not going to be…supplying for that operation.” pic.twitter.com/yLQHpkG0lQ
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 12, 2024
Blinken’s comments echoed previous statements from the Biden administration encouraging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to develop and announce a so-called “day after” strategy for who will rule Gaza after the war.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi reportedly tore into Netanyahu during security consultations over the weekend for failing to make such a plan.
Netanyahu and his government have long faced criticism over their refusal to make a plan for the management of the Strip after the war, and the prime minister has refused to hold substantive cabinet discussions on the matter due to concerns they could collapse his coalition.
Netanyahu has rejected efforts to include the Palestinian Authority in postwar planning, arguing that the more moderate foil to Hamas, which publicly backs a two-state solution, is no different from the Gaza-ruling terror group in that it too refuses to accept Israel’s existence and promotes hatred of the Jewish state.
“We have the same objective as Israel,” Blinken states. “We want to make sure that Hamas cannot govern Gaza again. We want to make sure it’s demilitarized. We want to make sure that Israel gets [Hamas’s] leaders… We have a different way, and we think a more effective, durable way of getting that done. We remain in conversation with Israel about exactly that.”
The Washington Post reported yesterday that the Biden administration has offered to give Israel “sensitive intelligence” on the whereabouts of senior Hamas leaders if it agrees to hold off on its long-promised major military operation in Rafah.
