State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller was asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying Israel will continue 'mowing the grass' in Gaza.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Yeah.
00:01Yeah.
00:02On that specifically, Netanyahu said over the weekend that there's the possibility
00:05that Israel would need to establish temporary military control over civilian life in Gaza.
00:12Is that something that the U.S. would temporarily support?
00:16We oppose military control.
00:17Look, they have temporary military control now, but we want to see that end.
00:21We want to see it transition to a different security environment and ultimately transition
00:27to a reunified Gaza and the West Bank.
00:30Now, you're not going to get there overnight.
00:32There has to be a transition plan.
00:33There has to be a path to get there.
00:35What that looks like and when a different authority can take control are all things
00:39that we need to work out with our partners in the region and ultimately with the Government
00:43of Israel.
00:44Do you think he's talking about this for a limited amount of time, or do you think
00:50he's trying to talk about this for an extended amount of time?
00:53I wouldn't want to speculate.
00:54Okay.
00:55And then he also made comments that after this intense phase of the conflict in Gaza
01:02concludes, in the near term here, Israel will continue mowing the lawn in Gaza.
01:09Does the U.S. know exactly what Israel means by continuing to mow the lawn, and do you
01:14support that if there's no ceasefire in place?
01:16So I don't know what he means exactly by that, but I think it probably means continued
01:20military engagement in Gaza.
01:23And for us, that's just a recipe for continued conflict, continued instability, and continued
01:29insecurity for Israel.
01:31It is obviously extremely harmful to the people of Gaza, who want to be able to rebuild their
01:37lives and rebuild their homes and want to be able to chart a different future.
01:41But we think continued military action in Gaza just makes Israel weaker.
01:47It makes it harder to achieve a resolution in the north.
01:50It adds to instability in the West Bank.
01:53It makes it harder for Israel to normalize relations with its neighbors.
01:57And so that's why we will continue to put forward what we believe is an alternative
02:00path that actually helps Israel's security, not one that weakens it.
02:05And then just last question.
02:07You've obviously expressed U.S. concerns that Israel hasn't been fully focused on
02:13the day-after conversations.
02:15Is that changing at all?
02:16Do you think Israel is taking any more seriously those conversations, given that they are planning
02:22to wrap up these intense operations?
02:26Do those conversations look a little bit different now?
02:29They are a little bit more – they are – I shouldn't say a little bit – they are somewhat
02:31more focused on it now, I think just by nature of the fact that they, by their own admission,
02:37are nearing the end of major military operations.
02:40So by nature, you have to look at what is going to come next.
02:44We want them to engage seriously on that.
02:46We want them to engage seriously with us on it.
02:47We want them to engage seriously with Arab countries in the region about it, because
02:51we do think there are ways to rebuild Gaza, to provide security for Gaza, to provide
03:00Palestinian-led governance in Gaza that ultimately will not just realize the aspirations of the
03:06Palestinian people but will strengthen Israel's security.
03:08And so it's very much in their interest to engage in these conversations in good faith,
03:12and we will encourage them to do so.
03:14Sorry, one more.
03:15I forgot.
03:16It's okay.
03:17So there's been a lot of support of increased looting and gangs in Gaza, and I wonder who
03:24the United States thinks the onus is on to try and drive that down.
03:29I mean, is it the IDF that should be creating more law and order?
03:33Is there a body that can do that?
03:35Like, how do you tackle that problem?
03:36So it is a – that is an incredibly difficult question, obviously, because it goes to the
03:42heart of what comes next, who provides security for the people of Gaza who just want to go
03:47about their daily lives.
03:50And right now, in the places where Israel has conducted military operations but no longer
03:58is there on the ground, you do see this anarchy, and you see Hamas in some cases reasserting
04:04control, which is obviously something that is incredibly dangerous for Israel.
04:07It's incredibly dangerous for the Palestinian people.
04:09Just look at the ramifications of the war that Hamas launched on October 7th.
04:14They've been – no one has suffered more than the Palestinian people from that decision.
04:19So that said, we don't want to see Israel occupy and have Israel's soldiers providing
04:25security because we think that just increases tension, it's not going to be – make Israel
04:29safer, it's certainly not going to benefit the Palestinian people.
04:31So we are working on proposals with our partners in the region.
04:35I don't want to detail them here for, I think, obvious reasons.
04:38We'll keep those conversations down, but it's a very important question that we are
04:42working quite hard on answering.
04:44And those proposals might have to go into effect even if the ceasefire is not yet in
04:48effect?
04:49I just wouldn't want to speculate.
04:50We want to get a ceasefire.
04:51We want to work on the day after things.
04:52Obviously, we would hope that they would align.