TEL AVIV: US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Friday it is not appropriate for Israel to occupy Gaza in the long-term, as speculation mounts over the post-war future of the territory.
"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.
"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 US and Israel concur that the war will last months more, Sullivan said, while there are "intensive discussions" about future stages of the conflict and the aftermath.
"There will be a transition to another phase of this war, one that is focused in more precise ways on targeting the (Hamas) leadership and on intelligence-driven operations" against the militant group, Sullivan said without giving a timeframe.
Separately, a senior US administration official said Washington and Israel have discussed a "shift in emphasis" from widescale bombardment to "narrow surgical military" action. The latter would focus on "high-value targets, specific military infrastructure," the official said on condition of anonymity.
The US has suggested the internationally-recognised PA could play a role in governing Gaza after the war, though the Ramallah-based administration is deeply unpopular among Palestinians.
"We do believe that the Palestinian Authority needs to be revamped and revitalised, needs to be updated in terms of its method of governance, its representation of the Palestinian people," Sullivan said.
Following talks with Israeli officials, Sullivan met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the besieged enclave's postwar future, which, according to a senior US official, could include bringing back Palestinian security forces driven from their jobs in Gaza by Hamas in its 2007 takeover.
American and Israeli officials have been vague in public about how Gaza will be run if Israel achieves its goal of ending Hamas control—and the idea floated as one of several, appeared to be the first time Washington offered some detail on its vision for security arrangements in the enclave.
Any role for Palestinian security forces in Gaza is bound to elicit strong opposition from Israel, which seeks to maintain an open-ended security presence there and says it won't allow a postwar foothold for the Abbas-led Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but is deeply unpopular with Palestinians.
In meetings with Israeli leaders on Thursday and Friday, Sullivan discussed a timetable for winding down the intense combat phase of the war.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Sullivan that it would take months to destroy Hamas, but did not say whether his estimate referred to the current phase of heavy airstrikes and ground battles.
Sullivan said Friday that “there is no contradiction between saying the fight is going to take months and also saying that different phases will take place at different times over those months, including the transition from the high-intensity operations to more targeted operations.”
While Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it wipes out Gaza's Hamas rulers, the international call for a cease-fire has grown in volume. Israel has drawn international outrage and rare criticism from the US—its main ally—over the killing of civilians.
Israel's bombings and ground offensive, triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, has 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 spiralling humanitarian crisis.
More than 18,700 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.
Israel says 116 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and taking about 240 hostages.
(With inputs from AFP and AP)