By Al-Fassel and AFP | 2023-11-08

The United States said Tuesday (November 7) it opposed a new long-term occupation of the Gaza strip by Israel, whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed "overall security" of the territory following the war.

US President Joe Biden does not support an Israeli military reoccupation of the Gaza strip after the war ends, a White House spokesman said Tuesday.

Biden believes "a reoccupation by Israeli forces of Gaza is not the right thing to do," national security spokesman John Kirby said.

Speaking after G7 foreign ministers held talks in Japan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday listed what he said were "key elements" in order to create "durable peace and security."

"The United States believes key elements should include: no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, not now, not after the war; No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism or other violent attacks; No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends," Blinken said.

Other conditions include no "attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza" or any "reduction in the territory of Gaza," he added.

"Our viewpoint is that Palestinians must be at the forefront of these decisions and Gaza is Palestinian land and it will remain Palestinian land," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Tuesday.

"Generally speaking, we do not support the reoccupation of Gaza and neither does Israel," he said.

In an interview Monday with ABC News, Netanyahu said Israel would assume "overall security" over Gaza "for an indefinite period" after the war, which is now entering its second month.

The war was ignited by Hamas, which staged an October 7 terrorist attack on Israel from Gaza, killing 1,400 civilians and taking more than 200 hostage.

Patel said the United States agreed "there is no returning to the October 6 status quo," referring to the day before the Hamas terrorist attack.

"Israel and the region must be secure and Gaza should and can no longer be a base from which to launch terror attacks against the people of Israel or anyone else," Patel said.

Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip, which it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War, in 2005. It later imposed a blockade after Hamas seized control of the territory.