Israel does not want to occupy or annex Gaza: Israeli PM Netanyahu
Jerusalem, Aug 7 (PTI): Israel doesn't want to annex or occupy Gaza and its sole aim is to destroy Hamas and hand over the strip to a transitory government, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
The prime minister also said that Israel wants to take control of Gaza's security after ending the war as soon as possible.
In an interaction with a group of visiting Indian journalists, Netanyahu said over two million tonnes of food were sent to Gaza, but the supplies were "interdicted".
The Israeli prime minister's comments came amid increasing international criticism of his government over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as an estimated 60,000 people were killed in the Israeli military offensive in the last 22 months.
Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas' attack on October 7, 2023, killed about 1,200 people. Hamas also took 251 people as hostages.
"Our plan is not to occupy or annex Gaza. Our goal is to destroy Hamas and get our hostages back, and then hand over Gaza to a transitory government," Netanyahu said.
"We will never hand it (Gaza) over to the Palestinian Authority or Hamas. We will provide overall security. There will be a security perimeter provided by us," he said.
"We want to end the war very soon. It will be over speedily. If Hamas concedes and lays down their arms and frees hostages, it will be over tomorrow. Even Palestinians in Gaza are fighting Hamas," the Israeli prime minister said.
Netanyahu said Israel wants to make Gaza a "de-militarised" zone.
"We are looking at ending the war very soon. We are focusing on winning the war," he said.
Israel is also facing increasing international pressure on the scarcity of food and medicine in Gaza. However, Netanyahu rejected the criticism.
"We have supplied over 2 million tonnes of food. However, the supplies were interdicted. We let thousands of trucks carrying food go to Gaza," he claimed.
"I decided to open up the transit routes for aid trucks. The problem has been with the distribution. Hamas caused the humanitarian crisis."
To a question, Netanyahu said he would like to come to India soon.
There is a huge scope to expand India-Israel cooperation, including in areas of intelligence sharing, countering terrorism, he said.
On US President Donald Trump imposing a 50 per cent tariff on India, he said it will be of interest to both countries to resolve the tariff issue.
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Delegation requests for Karnataka HC Bench in coastal districts, hands petition to Chief Justice
Udupi: A delegation of the High Court Bench Struggle Committee met and submitted a petition to the Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru at the Circuit House urging the opening of a High Court Bench in the coastal belt as well as a Mobile High Court Bench in Mangaluru.
MLC and convener of the Committee Ivan D’Souza, who spoke to the Chief Justice on the occasion, explained that the people of the coastal belt find it difficult to travel to Bengaluru to fight a petition in the High Court. The problem only aggravated during monsoon. D’Souza added that there was a delay in clearing the cases of Udupi, Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu districts, which was causing further inconvenience to the people.
The MLC, who pointed out that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had also shown his preference for establishing a High Court Bench in the coastal region, requested for an approval to establish a Mobile High Court Bench first.
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Responding to this request, Chief Justice Bakhru assured to take action on the request as soon as possible.
The delegation included Mangalore Bar Association President Raghavendra HV, Dakshina Kannada Principal Government Pleader MP Noronha, General Secretary Sridhar H, Udupi Bar Association President Reynold Praveen Kumar, General Secretary Chandrashekhar Shetty, Vice-president Devadas V Shettigar and Brahmavar Bar Association President Kadoor Praveen Shetty.
