Buenos Aires:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday reaffirmed Washington's opposition to any reoccupation of the Gaza Strip by Israel, as well as any reduction in the size of the Palestinian territory.
Blinken's comments were in response to a plan for post-war Gaza put forward by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which his country's military would have “indefinite freedom” to operate across the Gaza Strip once Hamas is defeated.
“Gaza… cannot be a platform for terrorism. There should be no Israeli reoccupation of Gaza. The size of Gaza's territory should not be reduced,” Blinken said in Buenos Aires, after attending a G20 meeting of ministers of Foreign Affairs in Brazil.
Blinken reaffirmed Washington's support for Israel's right to “self-defense” after an attack on Thursday near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank in which three Palestinians shot at vehicles, killing one and wounding eight.
Palestinians have complained about the worsening of Israeli-imposed restrictions in the West Bank since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas.
Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for a “strong security response… and colonization” by building thousands of new homes in settlements such as Maale Adumim and the West Bank.
Blinken said that “new settlements are counterproductive to achieving lasting peace, and also violate international law.”
“Our government remains firmly opposed to settlement expansion. In our view, this only weakens Israel's security, it does not strengthen it.”
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