Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi rejected a US proposal for Egypt to manage security in the Gaza Strip until the Palestinian Authority can take over after Palestinian militant group Hamas is defeated by Israel, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Al-Sisi and his intelligence chief Abbas Kamal met with Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns in Cairo and discussed the American proposal, WSJ reported citing senior Egyptian officials.
“The Egyptian president said his government wouldn’t play a role in eliminating Hamas as it needs the militant group to help maintain security at the country’s border with the Gaza Strip,” the officials said.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with ABC news aired Monday that Israel could resume responsibility for security in Gaza “for an indefinite period.”
Netanyahu said: “I think Israel will, for an indefinite period will have the overall security responsibility [in Gaza] because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it. When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine.”
The US rejected the Israeli PM’s proposition and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Israel should not reoccupy Gaza but there may be a transition period after the end of the conflict with Hamas.
Blinken said: “Gaza cannot continue to be run by Hamas… It’s also clear that Israel cannot occupy Gaza. Now the reality is that there may be a need for some transition period at the end of the conflict, but it is imperative that the Palestinian people be central to the governance of Gaza and the West Bank.”
“We’re very clear on no reoccupation, just as we’re very clear on no displacement of the Palestinian population,” he stressed.
Content retrieved from: https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2023/11/09/Sisi-rejects-US-proposal-of-Egypt-managing-Gaza-security-after-Hamas-defeat-Report.