Blinken Warns Israel: No Postwar Gaza ‘Occupation’ or Blockade

In a press conference Wednesday following a meeting of the G7 in Tokyo, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken laid out the U.S. vision for a post-war future in Gaza, urging Israel not to reoccupy the area before conceding there may be a “transition period.”

The Times of Israel reports Blinken said, “The only way to ensure this never happens again is to set the conditions for durable peace and security”:

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. No attempts to blockade or besiege Gaza.

No reduction in the territory of Gaza. We must also ensure no terrorist threats emerge from the West Bank.

What it should have is “Palestinian governance, Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority… a sustained mechanism for reconstruction in Gaza, and a pathway” to a two-state solution, Blinken added.

Asked to address Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desire for Israel to assume security responsibility in Gaza indefinitely, Blinken reportedly conceded “there may be a need for some transition period.”

He also reiterated Washington’s view that Gaza could not be run by Hamas, the terrorist group that currently rules the enclave.

“That simply invites repetition of October 7,” Blinken said, referring to the group’s terror assault on Israel that prompted the retaliatory bombardment of Gaza.