Blinken after Netanyahu remark: Israel can’t occupy Gaza but may be "transition period"

Israel should not reoccupy Gaza but there may be a transition period after the end of the conflict with Palestinian militant group Hamas, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.

Blinken appeared to be pushing back against a declaration by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Tel Aviv could resume responsibility for security in Gaza “for an indefinite period.”

Netanyahu had said in an interview with ABC news aired Monday: “I think Israel will, for an indefinite period will have the overall security responsibility [in Gaza] because we've seen what happens when we don't have it. 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.”