Israel plans to maintain “security control” in the Gaza Strip even after a ceasefire, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday.

This means that after dismantling the military and administrative capabilities of the Palestinian militant Hamas organisation, Israel’s army would retain “full freedom of action,” akin to the situation in the West Bank, Mr Katz posted on social media platform X.

In the West Bank, Israeli troops regularly conduct raids in cities technically under the security control of the Palestinian authority.

“We will not tolerate any organisation of terror against Israeli communities and Israeli citizens from the Gaza Strip,” Mr Katz said. “We will not allow a return to the reality of before October 7.”

The massacre committed in Israel by Hamas and other militant groups from the coastal area on October 7 last year resulted in 1,200 deaths and more than 250 people abducted, triggering the Gaza war.

Since then, Israel has been fighting Hamas in Gaza, where, according to Palestinian sources, more than 45,000 people have been killed so far.

Hamas demands a complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip and an end to the war as conditions for a ceasefire.

However, Israel aims at all costs to prevent a resurgence of the Islamist organisation after the war.

(dpa/NAN)