Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, on Thursday, that he had spoken with many Arab leaders about the possibility of taking over the besieged Gaza Strip, however, there were “no takers.”
During an interview with Israeli Kan Reshet Bet radio, Netanyahu said that Israel “may be forced” to carry out an operation in Gaza, which would only be taken “after every alternative had been explored.”
Netanyahu revealed, “All the options are still on the table, including entering Gaza and occupying it, out of consideration of what is best for Israel.”
“But that is the last option and not the first,” he added.
He explained, “Israel hasn’t recaptured Gaza, because once it does, it would have to continue to hold onto that territory and Israel doesn’t want to rule the 2 million Palestinians there.”
Netanyahu mentioned that he had spoken with Arab leaders about the possibility of “turning Gaza over to another country” and “hoped that we would find someone who would take it (Gaza).”
However, “No one wanted to do this,” he stressed, according to Ma’an.
It is noteworthy that the more than 2 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip have suffered from a nearly 12-year Israeli-imposed land, air, and sea blockade, which has plunged the small territory into poverty and some of the highest unemployment rates in the world.
The UN has reported that Gaza could be “uninhabitable” by 2020.
(PNN archive image)
