As calls for a two-state solution in the Middle East continue, Israel’s foreign minister said on Tuesday once again that his government intends to retain responsibility for security in the Gaza Strip “for “years”.

This will be in place “until we are sure that we will no longer be killed by Gazans,” Israel Katz said during an interview with media from the German media group Axel Springer, including the tabloid newspaper Bild and the magazine and news website Politico.

The head of Israeli diplomacy has once again called the members of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas the “new Nazis”, who according to him “must be eliminated”.

He called it “absolutely absurd” that “after everything that happened” on October 7, when the military arm of Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern sectors of Israeli territory, “they are telling Israel that the right thing to do is (implement) the solution of two states”.

Furthermore, Mr. Katz insisted that Palestinians killed Israelis and therefore his government has no intention of handing over responsibility for Jewish safety to Palestinians in the future.

At the same time, he rejected proposals – supported by many members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government – to re-settlement the Gaza Strip, insisting that Israel would not “rule” the small coastal Palestinian enclave.

“That won’t happen. Government policy is clear, whatever individual ministers say,” he assured.