Biden warns Israel that reoccupying the Gaza Strip would be a ‘big mistake’

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, has warned Israel that reoccupying the Gaza Strip would be a “big mistake,” although he has defended the Jewish state’s right to enter the Palestinian enclave and eliminate fighters from the Islamist group Hamas.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The Israeli army entered the Gaza Strip by force in 2009 and 2014but in both cases he chose not to remain in that area.

Biden’s comments, made in an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS, represent his first public attempt to curb retaliatory measures taken by Israel against the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

So far, Biden had reaffirmed his staunch support for Israel and avoided criticizing the Jewish state over the blockade imposed on Gaza, which has prevented the access of water, food and medicine since the Hamas attack, despite warnings from the UN about the possibility of a humanitarian crisis.

However, in the interview, the president expressed reluctance about a large-scale occupation of the Gaza Strip. ‘I think it would be a big mistake’Biden told CBS in the interview, which was taped Thursday and aired Sunday night. “Hamas and the extreme elements of Hamas do not represent the entire Palestinian people. And I think it would be a mistake if Israel were to reoccupy Gaza,” he said.

However, Biden has ruled it is necessary ‘eliminating extremists’ who are hiding among the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.

Also the European Council has recognized Israel’s right to “defend itself” by respecting “international and humanitarian law” and “guaranteeing the protection of all civilians.”