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Demilitarization Of Gaza

by Eyder Peralta
NPR.org

A top White House adviser says any cease-fire agreement between Israel and Palestinians must include the demilitarization of Gaza.

In an interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep, Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken said "that needs to be the end result."

"There has to be some way forward that does not involve Hamas having the ability to continue to rain down rockets on Israeli civilians," Blinken said.

Asked if this means the U.S. has endorsed Israel's demand that Hamas give up its weapons, Blinken said:

"One of the results, one would hope, of a cease-fire would be some form of demilitarization, so that again, this doesn't continue, doesn't repeat itself. This is what we've seen happen multiple times over the past few years, which is these rockets coming from Gaza, which Hamas controls, as well as more recently the tunneling to Israel with terrorists trying to infiltrate Israel. And no country can accept that. So that needs to be the end result of this process."

Of course, Hamas is unlikely to accept that demand and adding it as a condition to a cease-fire agreement may prolong the current conflict.

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