Gaza/Jerusalem:

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said a “very strong force” may need to remain in Gaza for the near future to prevent the re-emergence of the Hamas terrorist group after the war, but US President Joe Biden warned that Capturing Gaza would be “a big mistake”. ,

Herzog said in an interview, “If we pull out, who will take over? We can’t leave a void. We have to think about what the mechanism will be; there are many ideas that have been thrown around.” The FT published on Thursday.

“But no one would want to turn this place, Gaza, into a terrorist base again,” he said.

Herzog told the FT that Israel’s government was discussing a number of ideas about how Gaza would be run after the war ends and said he believed the United States and “our Neighbors” will have some involvement in the post-conflict order.

However, Biden said on Wednesday that he had made it clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a two-state solution and that annexing Gaza would be “a huge mistake.”

The Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, says Gaza, where Hamas has ruled since 2007, is an imagined future Palestinian state. Is an integral part.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas but has made no plans to determine who will rule Gaza after the war. Netanyahu has said that Israel must maintain overall security responsibility in Gaza indefinitely.

Israel’s military focus on Thursday remained on Gaza’s largest hospital, Al Shifa, where it says Hamas “stored weapons in tunnels under the buildings and ran a command center”.

The army said Israeli soldiers forced their way into Al Shifa hospital early Wednesday and continued their search throughout the day. An army video showed that automatic weapons, hand grenades, ammunition and flak jackets were recovered from an unidentified building within the compound.

“Troops are continuing to search the hospital based on accurate, intelligence-based information,” military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said at a press briefing late Wednesday.

Biden said Hamas was committing war crimes “by placing its military headquarters under a hospital.” He said Israel had gone into Al Shifa with a limited number of troops with guns.

Reading Gaza war will delay $70 billion investment

“They were told…we discussed the need for them to be incredibly careful,” Biden told reporters Wednesday.

The Israeli military made no mention of finding any tunnel entrance at Al Shifa. Earlier it was said that Hamas had built a network of tunnels under the hospital. Hamas has denied this and rejected the army’s latest statements.

“The occupying forces are still lying… because they brought some weapons, clothes and equipment and kept them in the hospital in a condemnable manner,” said Ezzat al-Rashq, a senior Qatar-based Hamas member. “We have repeatedly called for a committee from the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the Red Cross to verify the occupation’s lies.”

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that Israeli forces raided the Shifa compound “for the second time in 24 hours” on Wednesday evening. The agency cited local sources as saying that bulldozers and military vehicles were used.

Hamas-affiliated Shehab news agency reported Thursday morning that Israeli tanks attacked Al Shifa from the southern part of the compound and gunfire was heard in the area.

Israel launched its campaign against the resistance group that rules Gaza when its fighters carried out attacks in southern Israel on October 7. Israel says 1,200 people were killed and about 240 taken hostage in the deadliest day in its 75-year-old history.

Biden told reporters he was doing everything in his power to free the hostages held by Hamas, but that does not mean sending US troops.

Washington has increased its military presence in the Middle East, sending two aircraft carriers and support ships to the region to prevent the conflict from spreading and to prevent Iran, a longtime supporter of Hamas, from getting involved.

Read more Israel raids Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital, witnesses report firing inside

According to three senior officials, Iran’s supreme leader told the head of Hamas when they met in Tehran in early November: You gave us no warning about the October 7 attack on Israel and we did not enter the war on your behalf. do.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Ismail Haniyeh that Iran would continue to provide political and moral support to Hamas but would not intervene directly, said Iranian and Hamas officials with knowledge of the discussions, who asked to remain anonymous to speak independently. .

Jordan on Wednesday condemned in the “strongest terms” Israeli shelling around a Jordanian field hospital in Gaza, which injured seven staff, and said it would take legal and political steps to hold Israel accountable for the “crime”. Will wait for the results of the army investigation before lifting it. ,

First fuel truck reaches Gaza

Israel has imposed a strict blockade of Gaza, retaliating against an October 7 attack by Hamas, and carrying out aerial bombardments and armored ground attacks, which Palestinian officials say have killed about 11,500 people , of which about 40% are children, and many people are buried under. debris.

Israel has ordered the evacuation of the entire northern half of Gaza, and about two-thirds of its 2.3 million residents are now homeless.

The first truck carrying fuel to Gaza since the war began passed through Egypt on Wednesday to deliver diesel to the United Nations, although it will do nothing to ease a shortage that has hampered relief efforts.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday called for an immediate and extended humanitarian pause in the fighting for “substantial days” to allow aid access. A resolution also called for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas.

Israel has so far rejected calls for a ceasefire, which it says would benefit Hamas. However, talks brokered by Qatar have discussed stopping the fighting.

An official briefed on the talks said Qatari mediators were seeking a deal that would include a three-day ceasefire, in which Hamas would release 50 of its detainees and Israel would release some of its security detainees, including women and minors.