Washington, Oct. 16, (dpa/GNA) – US President Joe Biden has said that it would be a “big mistake” if Israel were to reoccupy the Gaza Strip.
“I think it’d be a big mistake … The extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people. And I think that it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza again,” Biden said in an interview on the CBS news programme 60 Minutes.
“Going in and taking out the extremists” is necessary, however, he continued.
Biden said he assumed that Israel would abide by existing laws of war and follow standards, such as allowing innocent people in Gaza access to medical care, food and water.
The White House interview, which was broadcast on Sunday evening, was recorded late on Thursday.
Following Hamas’ large-scale attack on October 7, Israel tied the basic provision of services to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip to the release of Israeli hostages held by the Islamist movement.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, is classified by the US, the European Union and Israel as a terrorist organization.
The United Nations, however, called on Israel to allow the supply of food, water, medicine and fuel to the people in the sealed-off area.
Asked whether Biden thought Hamas had to be destroyed, the US president answered in the affirmative.
“But there needs to be a Palestinian authority. There needs to be a path to a Palestinian state.”
That path, he said, was the two-state solution that the US has supported for decades.
Israel occupied the Gaza Strip during the 1967 Six-Day War and later authorised the construction of settlements.
In 2005, then-prime minister Ariel Sharon ordered a military withdrawal from Gaza and the evacuation of settlements. Hamas has controlled Gaza since 2007.
GNA