Donald Trump avoided openly commenting on U.S. support for the announced plan by Israeli authorities to occupy Gaza, stating that it “is pretty much up to Israel.”
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Benjamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet’s decision, driven by their far-right allies, to militarily occupy the entire Palestinian enclave has generated high tension with the head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
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What did Trump say about a possible full occupation of Gaza?
“The truth is I can’t say anything. That’s going to be pretty much up to Israel,” said President Trump when asked about the occupation of the Palestinian enclave, stating that he is unaware of the “suggestion” from the Israeli government regarding this matter.
The president stated that he is “focused” on distributing aid to the Palestinians in Gaza. “I know we are there right now trying to feed the people,” he added, mentioning that “the United States has recently granted 60 million dollars to supply food, and frankly, a lot of food, to the population of Gaza, which obviously is not very well fed.”
In this sense, he was convinced that “Israel is going to help us (...) both in terms of distribution and economically,” adding that he also has the collaboration of the “Arab countries” for this.
Why does Israel want to occupy Gaza?
Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Tuesday during a visit to a military base of the Army located in Tel HaShomer, on the outskirts of the city of Tel Aviv, the need to achieve the objectives of the offensive, which include “defeating the enemy” in the enclave, freeing the hostages, and ensuring that “Gaza will never again be a threat to Israel.”
Later on, he confirmed that he had a meeting with senior military officials for “approximately three hours” during which the head of the Defense Forces “presented options to continue with the campaign in Gaza.”
It is expected that this week the security cabinet led by Netanyahu will meet in a gathering where a decision may be made on whether to expand the offensive against Gaza.
This option has created a lot of tension with the Chief of the Israel Defense Forces, Eyal Zamir, who believes it could be a “trap” by involving the IDF on multiple fronts. Furthermore, Zamir believes that a total occupation would put the lives of the hostages held by Hamas at risk, of which it is believed that around twenty are still alive.