Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Monday that his country doesn't have "any intention" of controlling the Gaza Strip long term.
"We don't have any intention to do so," Sa’ar said in an exclusive interview with Euronews. "With regard to the Gaza Strip, we have only security concerns."
Sa'ar's comments seem to contradict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who in May said Israel would take control of all of Gaza after the war ends.
"We [will] implement (President) Trump's plan, it is a good plan and makes a difference and it means something very simple, that the residents of Gaza who want to leave can leave," Netanyahu said, referring to a proposal floated by Trump of resettling all of Gaza's population in other countries.
But Sa'ar added that the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which currently controls the enclave, "cannot be part of the future of Gaza."
"If Hamas is ready to lay down its arms, if they are ready to demilitarise the Gaza Strip, we can do it in a political path."
Sa’ar also slammed as "ridiculous" criticism from some Western countries that Israel's military operation in Gaza has been disproportionate.
"What would you say about the Western attack against ISIS that destroyed ISIS? Was it proportionate?," he asked, referring to the so-called Islamic state that once ruled large parts of Syria and Iraq.
Talking about the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel that prompted the retaliatory military operation in Gaza, he said: "Israel should agree to the existence of this terrorist state, one mile from its communities, what its proportions are in this case? These terrorist states should be eliminated as a state."
Around 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed in that attack and 250 others taken as hostages back to Gaza, of which 20 are believed to still be alive.
The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent Israeli military operation.
A US-sponsored 60-day ceasefire deal for Gaza which would see Hamas free the remaining hostages has so far failed to materialise.
Israel has indicated it would be willing to end all hostilities if Hamas surrendered its weapons and renounced governing Gaza.
Sa’ar is in Brussels to participate in the EU-Southern Neighbourhood ministerial meeting, a gathering aimed at deepening EU cooperation with Israel as well as nine other southern partners, including Palestine, Syria and Libya.
It is the first time that Israel and Palestine will be represented at a high level in Brussels since the war in Gaza started.
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Both sides have indicated there is no plan to meet. Direct negotiations between the Palestinian Authority, the government of the West Bank, and Israel have been at a standstill for more than a decade with many observers questioning the feasibility of a two-state solution.
Sa’ar’s visit also coincides with a meeting of the 27 EU foreign ministers on Tuesday, which is aimed at discussing an exhaustive list of 10 possibilities for the EU to respond to Israel's breach of the EU-Israel Association Agreement over its failure to respect Palestinian human rights.
It also takes place a few days after a recent agreement brokered by the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to improve the flow of aid to Gaza.
Sa'ar defended the agreement with Kallas, saying there had already been fuel entering humanitarian facilities like hospitals or water installation in Gaza.
"But the only restriction or the only problem we have here is that Hamas cannot take advantage of the aid as they did during the last 21 months," he said.
In its last humanitarian update on 9 July, the UN estimated that one third of Gazans are going entire days without eating and more people are at risk of starvation. Health services face an imminent shutdown due to a lack of fuel.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of confiscating aid destined for civilians.
The minister also called the EU's list of options in retaliation for Israel's breach of the EU-Israel Association Agreement "extremely distorted."
Those options include suspending visa free travel and blocking imports from Jewish settlements, according to a document issued by Kallas' office seen by Euronews.
"Even though we thought this process is not fair, it is extremely distorted, we gave answers and we brought facts," Sa’ar said. "I hope that also tomorrow, those member states that think it's not in the interest of the EU to go against Israel will prevail."
