The Israeli government said on Wednesday it was “very premature” to discuss “scenarios” for the future of the Gaza Strip, which is to be “demilitarized”, but said it was already in talks with other countries on the issue, AFP reported. .

It is too early to talk about “the day after Hamas” scenarios, Israeli government spokesman Eilon Levy said on Wednesday.

“I would like the ‘day after’ of Hamas to be next week, but it will probably take longer,” he added.

“We are exploring more options with our international partners,” he added, setting a “common denominator” to “demilitarize” the Gaza Strip so that it “never” becomes a “nest of terrorism.”

Earlier, Benny Gantz, a member of the military government and one of the opposition leaders, spoke of an “alternative mechanism for Gaza” after the end of the current military operation.

“But Hamas will not be part of it,” he said.

Israel has said its troops are now “in the heart” of Gaza City, where fighting has intensified in recent days after a month of deadly war sparked by a Hamas attack on its territory.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Wednesday that Israel should not “re-occupy” the Gaza Strip after the end of the ongoing conflict with Hamas, following a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Tokyo.

Israel’s key ally, the United States, already on Tuesday voiced its opposition to the possible re-occupation of Palestinian territory after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a day earlier that his country would take “overall responsibility for security “in the Gaza Strip”. for an indefinite period”.

On the Israeli side, at least 1,400 people have died since the start of the war, according to authorities, most of them civilians killed on the day of the attack by Hamas commandos, in a violence and scale unprecedented since Israel’s creation in 1948.

According to data published on Wednesday by the Hamas Health Ministry, 10,569 people, mostly civilians, including 4,324 children, were killed in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israeli bombardment.

Hamas and Israel accused of war crimes

Volker Turk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes.

“The atrocities committed by Palestinian armed groups on October 7 were horrific, they were war crimes, as was the continued holding of hostages,” Turk said.

“Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinian civilians is also a war crime, as is the illegal forced evacuation of civilians,” the UN representative concluded.

He echoed comments by UN chief Antonio Guterres, who said two weeks ago that Hamas attacks could not “justify the collective punishment” of the Palestinian people.

Critics of Israel’s actions say cutting off electricity and water in Gaza is collective punishment.

This is illegal under international law because it directly affects the civilian population.