Israel rejects Palestinian sovereignty in Gaza Strip, Netanyahu tells Biden

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on Saturday to push back against US President Joe Biden’s remarks about Palestinian sovereignty in the Gaza Strip.

Biden on Friday said he spoke with Netanyahu about possible solutions for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, suggesting one path could involve a non-militarized government.

“In his conversation with President Biden, Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated his policy that after Hamas is destroyed Israel must retain security control over Gaza to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel, a requirement that contradicts the demand for Palestinian sovereignty,” a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office said.

On Thursday, Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Palestinian sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, saying it was incompatible with Israel’s need to have “security control over all the territory west of the (River) Jordan”.

Joe Biden had said after the call on Friday that it was possible Benjamin Netanyahu could come round to some form of two-state solution, seen for decades by diplomats as the best way to bring peace to the Middle East.

“There are a number of types of two-state solutions. There’s a number of countries that are members of the UN that… don’t have their own militaries,” Joe Biden told reporters after an event at the White House.

A senior Hamas official on Saturday dismissed Joe Biden’s comments about the possibility of Israel agreeing to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“The illusion that Joe Biden is preaching about a state of Palestine and its characteristics does not fool our people,” Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the Islamist group’s political bureau, said in a statement.

“Joe Biden is a full partner in the genocidal war and our people do not expect any good from him.”

Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to destroy Hamas and demilitarise Gaza following the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on Israel, and is increasingly resistant to US pressure for a plan that includes any form of Palestinian statehood.

Hamas’s attack resulted in the death of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

With inputs from agencies.