Tel Aviv, 18 January 2024 (dpa/MIA) - With a view to possible scenarios after the Gaza war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has emphasized that any solution in the foreseeable future must include Israel's military control over the entire West Bank.

This contradicts the idea of the sovereignty of a Palestinian state, Netanyahu said at a press conference on Thursday. "What are you supposed to do?" he said when asked whether the United States was planning a scenario for the "time after Netanyahu" that envisages the creation of a Palestinian state.

In talks with US representatives, he said, he had fended off attempts to dictate a reality that would harm Israel's security. "Israel's prime minister must be able to say 'no' when necessary, even to our best friends," Netanyahu continued.

"From every area from which we withdraw, we get terror, terrible terror," said the right-wing politician, adding that this had happened in southern Lebanon, in the Gaza Strip and in parts of the West Bank. That is why control of the West Bank is so important, he said.

Photo: EPA