Washington: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out a vague vision for post-conflict Gaza during his speech to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday.
“The day after we defeat Hamas, a new Gaza could emerge,” Netanyahu said. “My vision for that day is of a demilitarized and deradicalized Gaza.”
“Israel does not seek to resettle Gaza. But for the foreseeable future, we must retain overriding security control there to prevent the resurgence of terror, to ensure Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel,” he told a joint meeting of the Congress.
“A new generation of Palestinians must no longer be taught to hate Jews but rather to live in peace with us,” he added.
Roughly 70 Democrats from the House and Senate boycotted Netanyahu’s speech. The most notable was the absence of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who serves as president of the Senate.
Outside the U.S. Capitol and at Washington’s Union Station, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in protest against Netanyahu’s visit to the United States, demanding Washington stop military aid to Israel.
As the war in Gaza enters its 10th month, at least 39,090 Palestinians have been killed and 90,147 others injured. Israel and Hamas have failed to reach a complete ceasefire agreement and a hostage release deal after multiple rounds of negotiations.
People in the Gaza Strip have become exhausted by ongoing displacement and unlivable conditions, and are trapped in increasingly small and overcrowded areas, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on Wednesday.
The UN agency estimates that clearing the Gaza Strip of the 40-million-tonne rubble caused by Israel’s war on the Palestinian enclave will take 15 years.
“Debris poses a deadly threat for people in the Gaza Strip as it can contain unexploded ordnance and harmful substances,” it said.
