The United States is opposed to the creation of any buffer zone in Gaza, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.
“There must be no reduction in the size of Gaza and that remains our position—and it will remain our position,” Miller said.
Reuters reported last week that Israel had conveyed plans for the buffer zone to several Arab states and Turkey.
Miller clarified that “Any proposed buffer zone that was inside Gaza: that would be a violation of that principle and its something that we oppose.”
He spoke with reporters about the Biden administration’s vision concerning Gaza’s future once Israel’s military campaign to oust Hamas from that enclave is complete.
“We understand that there will have to be some kind of transition period” to prevent a security vacuum, but in the end, control of the territory must be in the hands of the Palestinians, he said.
But for that to happen, there “would need to be an increase in the capability of the Palestinian Authority security forces,” Miller said.
He clarified that Israel would have to withdraw from Gaza once an appropriate security and governmental architecture was in place in the enclave. In the future, Gaza and the West Bank must be part of an independent Palestinian state, the State Department spokesman said.
“There can be no re-occupation of Gaza,” he stated.
Netanyahu stresses opposition to PA control of Gaza
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday in a post on X that the PA and its President Mahmoud Abbas will never rule Gaza.
“Those who educate their children for terror, finance terror and support terrorists’ families, will not be able to rule Gaza after we eliminate Hamas,” Netanyahu stated.
He spoke out in response to a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Sky News Arabia that according to Palestinian sources, Abbas was ready to assume power in Gaza as well as in the West Bank.
“As long as I’m the prime minister of Israel, this will never happen,” he stated.
Netanyahu spoke out amid an intense international debate concerning "the day after" Israel completes its military campaign to oust Hamas from Gaza, sparked by the rampage that killed at least 1,200 people and seized some 240 hostages on October 7.
The prime minister has insisted that the PA cannot govern Gaza and that an alternative entity must be created, particularly given that the authority continues to provide monthly financial stipends to terrorists and their families.
At a press conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night, Netanyahu rejected the idea of an international force, stating that “Gaza must be demilitarized” and that the only military charged with its security should be the IDF.