Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Saturday that he would not allow the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which governs parts of the West Bank, to take control of the Gaza Strip if Israel succeeds in ousting the opposition Hamas. US President Joe Biden and other key international actors.

“I will not make the mistake of letting the PNA rule in Gaza because it will be the same” as Hamas, Israel’s prime minister said at a televised press conference where he called for “a new vision, change.” in the Palestinian enclave, which will provide for “Israeli security and control”, reports EFE and The Times of Israel, quoted by Agerpres.

“Are we going to re-establish in Gaza the same entity that has not been reformed? Is this what our best friends advise us? I think differently,” he added.

During a press conference held at the army headquarters in Kirya (Tel Aviv), Netanyahu accused the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority of facilitating and financing terrorism and called its creation a “terrible mistake.”

Israel’s prime minister also vowed to continue the war against Hamas “to the end” and to “final victory” over the terrorist organization, saying he had failed to do so in previous cycles of the conflict because there was no domestic or international consensus. relation.

The US, Israel’s main sponsor and supporter of a Palestinian state, favors the unification of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under the PNA after the war ends, but Netanyahu rejects that possibility, saying the PNA and Hamas share an “ideology that denies the existence of Israel.”

The United States has also joined growing international pressure for a ceasefire in the war against Hamas, which began on October 7 and continues to cause death, injury and displacement in the Gaza Strip.

“Of course, we feel international pressure, I will not deny it, but since the beginning of the war we have created an international space against this pressure, I communicate with dozens of leaders every day (…) We do not always agree, but for now, in the end, this is our war , we decide,” Netanyahu emphasized.

According to Israel’s prime minister, the war being waged by Israeli forces is “justified” and must not stop until three goals are achieved: the recovery of all hostages, the destruction of Hamas and ensuring that the Islamist group no longer poses a threat to Israel .

“There is no way to achieve these goals without defeat, and there is no way to win without a (military) presence on the ground,” he said.

At the same time, Netanyahu promised to “do everything possible” to return the hostages remaining in the hands of Hamas, while making a strong appeal to the Lebanese movement Hezbollah not to start a full-scale war against Israel. because it will lead – according to him – to the destruction of Lebanon.

The war began on October 7 after a Hamas attack that included thousands of rockets being fired at Israel and the infiltration of an estimated 3,000 Palestinian militants, who killed an estimated 1,200 people and kidnapped 240 others in Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.

Since then, Israeli forces have been waging a ground, air and sea offensive against the Palestinian enclave that has killed 15,000 people, according to Hamas, and left nearly two million displaced people in the midst of a severe humanitarian crisis. .

A seven-day ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US broke down on Friday, with both sides blaming each other. As part of this deal, 105 hostages held by Hamas were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

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