Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that a new government could be established in the Gaza Strip sometime next year — provided the Hamas terror group surrenders its weapons and is made to “vanish.”
“No one’s going to come in there if Hamas stays armed and they’ll put a bullet right through the back of their head of, you know, anyone of any potential new government,” Netanyahu told Fox News’ “Special Report” in a sitdown set to air Tuesday evening.
“Everybody understands that,” the prime minister added to host Bret Baier. “I think Hamas understands it. That’s why they don’t want to do it. Because, you know, the point here is not to negotiate with Hamas. That’s not the job; their job, their job is to vanish, stop, no more.
“And you know who wants it more than anyone else? The people of Gaza.”
The fate of Hamas is a major sticking point preventing progress to phase 2 of Trump’s Gaza cease-fire plan, which the president discussed with Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago on Monday.
The two leaders agreed to give Hamas two additional months to disarm, Israel Hayom reported.
Phase 2 of the cease-fire plan also calls for the establishment of an international stabilization force (ISF) to police and keep the peace in the Palestinian enclave.
Israel and Hamas entered phase 1 of the Gaza cease-fire plan back in October, agreeing to halt the fighting to allow for the release of Israeli hostages — living and dead — as well as an influx of aid to the Strip.
During Trump and Netanyahu’s meeting at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, the president’s team urged the prime minister to ease its crackdown on Palestinians in the West Bank, Axios reported.
“We have had a discussion, big discussion for a long time on the West Bank,” Trump told reporters after the meeting Monday. “And I wouldn’t say we agree on the West Bank 100%, but we’ll come to a conclusion on the West Bank.”
“He will do the right thing, I know that,” Trump added of Netanyahu.
