Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday stated Israel will take “general safety duty” of the Gaza Strip for an indefinite period once war with Hamas ends, citing that it is necessary to prevent incidents like October 7.

“Israel will, for an indefinite period, have the overall security responsibility. When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine,” Netanyahu stated in a tv interview with ABC News.

Netanyahu additionally stated a normal ceasefire will probably be mentioned solely when hostages are launched. “There will probably be no ceasefire — normal ceasefire — in Gaza, with out the discharge of our hostages,” he said.

Netanyahu on Tuesday evening (local time) spoke to US President Joe Biden but rejected calls for a ceasefire. A readout by the White House said that both leaders “welcomed the increase in humanitarian assistance” and “the potential for tactical pauses to supply civilians with alternatives to soundly depart” areas witnessing active war.

Biden urged Netanyahu to take action against and hold “extremist settlers accountable for violent acts” within the West Bank. Netanyahu, when requested about tactical pauses to permit humanitarian assist, stated these pauses have been applied earlier than. “As far as tactical, little pauses — an hour right here, an hour there — we’ve had them earlier than, Israel could conform to pauses to let humanitarian items into Gaza, or to permit for hostages to depart,” he said.

Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel from Gaza on October 7, killing some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, including through targeting homes and revellers at a music festival.

Israel’s retaliatory strikes have killed 10,222 people, including more than 4,000 children, in the densely populated and besieged Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The scale of Israel’s retaliation has sparked condemnation for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has forced world leaders to call for ceasefire and de-escalation in violence.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned that the bombarded Gaza Strip was becoming a “graveyard for children”. “The nightmare in Gaza is greater than a humanitarian disaster. It is a disaster of humanity. The unfolding disaster makes the necessity for a humanitarian ceasefire extra pressing with each passing hour,” Guterres told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, according to news agency AFP.