The United States has floated a proposal of reactivating Palestinian security forces in Gaza while discouraging a long Israeli occupation of the territory as a top official visited the region Friday.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said it is not appropriate for Israel to occupy Gaza in the long-term, as speculation mounted over the post-war future.
"We do not believe that it makes sense for Israel, or is right for Israel, to occupy Gaza, reoccupy Gaza over the long term," Sullivan told journalists in Tel Aviv on Friday.
"Ultimately the control of Gaza, the administration of Gaza and the security of Gaza has to transition to the Palestinians," he said following meetings with senior Israeli officials.
The White House advisor is due to travel later to the occupied West Bank to meet the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud Abbas.
Washington has suggested the internationally-recognized PA could play a role in governing Gaza after the war, though the Ramallah-based administration is deeply unpopular among Palestinians.
A senior U.S. official earlier said that Sullivan and others have discussed the prospect of having those associated with the Palestinian Authority security forces before the Hamas takeover serve as the "nucleus" of postwar peacekeeping in Gaza.
It was one idea of many being considered for establishing security in Gaza, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with White House ground rules. He said such talks were taking place with Israel, the Palestinian Authority and regional partners.
As part of postwar scenarios, Washington has also called for revitalizing the Palestinian Authority, without letting on whether such reforms would require personnel changes or general elections, which last took place 17 years ago. The 88-year-old Abbas is widely unpopular, with this week's poll indicating close to 90% of Palestinians want him to resign.
"We do believe that the Palestinian Authority needs to be revamped and revitalized, needs to be updated in terms of its method of governance, its representation of the Palestinian people," Sullivan said.
In comparison, Palestinian support for Hamas has tripled in the West Bank, with a small uptick in Gaza, according to a poll published Wednesday. Still, a majority of Palestinians do not back Hamas, according to the survey, which had an error margin of 4 percentage points.
The U.S. has said it eventually wants to see the West Bank and Gaza under a unified Palestinian government, as a precursor to Palestinian statehood – an idea soundly rejected by Netanyahu, who leads a right-wing government that is opposed to Palestinian statehood.
The Palestinian prime minister told The Associated Press it’s time for the United States to deal more firmly with Israel, particularly on Washington’s calls for postwar negotiations for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"Now that the United States has talked the talk, we want Washington to walk the walk," Mohammed Shtayyeh said Thursday. "If the United States cannot deliver Israel, who can?”
The United States is a key military backer of Israel in its war on Gaza, which erupted on Oct. 7 following a Hamas incursion.
Indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion have killed at least 18,787 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gazan Health Ministry.
It has also flattened much of northern Gaza and driven 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes. Displaced people have squeezed into shelters mainly in the south in a spiraling humanitarian crisis.
