London
\nIsrael is going to create a \u201csecurity envelope\u201d in Gaza once its military has vanquished Hamas, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has revealed to the media.
\nEarlier, Reuters reported that the Israeli government had informed several countries about its plans for a \u201cbuffer zone\u201d in the Palestinian enclave.
\nIsrael launched its military operation against Hamas after Palestinian militants carried out a surprise incursion into the Jewish state, killing 1,200 people and abducting several hundred more.
\nNetanyahu\u2019s war cabinet has named the complete eradication of the Islamist group from Gaza as its aim. No clear picture has emerged yet as to the enclave\u2019s future, however.
\nSpeaking to reporters on Saturday, Mark Regev said that \u201cIsrael will have to have a security envelope,\u201d adding that \u201cwe can never again allow terrorists to cross the border and butcher our people the way they did on October 7.\u201d
\nThe official hastened to stress that \u201cthat is not Israel taking territory from Gaza,\u201d describing the planned arrangement as \u201ccommon sense.\u201d
\nOn Friday Reuters reported, citing several anonymous officials, that Israel had notified Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and T\u00fcrkiye that it intended to carve out a buffer zone in Gaza after the hostilities were over.
\nThat same day, Israeli broadcaster Kan cited two informed sources in its report that Prime Minister Netanyahu had shared the security-envelope plans with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the previous day.
\nAnother anonymous senior Israeli security source told Reuters that \u201cit is not clear at the moment how deep this will be and whether it could be one kilometer or two kilometers, or hundreds of meters\u201d inside the Palestinian enclave. Gaza is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) long and just 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) at its widest, and is home to some 2.3 million people.
\nAlso on Friday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby made it clear that Washington does not \u201csupport any reduction of the geographic limits of Gaza\u2026 Gaza must remain Palestinian land, and cannot be reduced.\u201d
\nEarlier this week, the Wall Street Journal alleged that President Joe Biden\u2019s administration was discussing with Israel the potential relocation of Hamas militants out of Gaza to end the bloodshed and minimize damage to the Palestinian territory, already ravaged by massive Israeli airstrikes.
\nAccording to Palestinian health authorities, at least 15,200 people have been killed in the enclave since early October, with thousands more injured.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
London Israel is going to create a \u201csecurity envelope\u201d in Gaza once its military has vanquished Hamas, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has revealed to the media. Earlier, Reuters reported that the Israeli government had informed several countries about its plans for a \u201cbuffer zone\u201d in the Palestinian enclave. Israel launched its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-372080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n