Israel has ‘no desire to govern’ Gaza but will create buffer zone, Netanyahu adviser says

Amna Nawaz:

Last night, we brought you Leila's interview with the Palestinian Authority prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh.

Tonight, Nick Schifrin gets the perspective of a top adviser to the Israeli government.

Nick Schifrin:

The Biden administration has been pressing Israel to limit Palestinian casualties, have a plan for the future of Gaza, and President Biden confirmed tonight the request of pausing Israel's military operation in order to release hostages.

To discuss those requests and the Israeli operation, we turn to Mark Regev, senior adviser to the Israeli prime minister and a former Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Thank you very much, Mark Regev. Always a pleasure. Welcome back to the "NewsHour."

As I said, this evening, President Biden confirmed he had asked Prime Minister Netanyahu for pauses in order to release hostages. The prime minister has confirmed — quote — "tactical little pauses, an hour here, an hour there."

But are you willing to consider what the president is requesting, a more significant pause in order to release hostages?

Mark Regev, Senior Adviser to Israeli Prime Minister: Well, as you said in your question, Nick — and thank you for having me — we're open to pauses.

We have done so in the past and we're willing to do so in the future. Obviously, for example, we had two pairs of hostages that were released, a pair of American women and a pair of elderly Israeli women, separately. And they were released in the framework of a local and time-limited pause in operations.

We did that also to facilitate the trend, people moving out of harm's way, Gazan civilians moving from the north to the south. We have done it to facilitate the entrance of humanitarian material into the Gaza Strip, food, medicine, water. So we have done it in the past. We can do it in the future.

Nick Schifrin:

The pause to release those two hostages were to allow the ICRC to physically move them.

But this pause request is more detailed than that. Axios' Barak Ravid is reporting the deal on the table is a three-day pause for 10 to 15 hostages, as well as a list of all 240 hostages. Can you confirm that?

Mark Regev:

I'm not in a position to confirm that.

I can tell you that we are willing to do — of course, for us, the number one humanitarian issue is getting hostages out. And so, of course, to do that, we will be willing to do a pause. That's a given.

Nick Schifrin:

How far are you willing to go?

Mark Regev:

Well, obviously, it's a number one priority for us. The hostages, 240 people are being held, of them, 30 children, of them, a baby 9 months old, an infant under the age of 3. It just shows you what we're dealing with, Nick.

Who — what sort of barbarians kidnap babies? What sort of barbarians kidnap toddlers? Yes, we're dealing with a very, very dangerous terrorist group who has no qualms whatsoever about kidnapping children. Of course, we saw how many children they killed when they invaded Israel. We're dealing with difficult people. We hope we can get our people out. We believe the military pressure on them at the moment will facilitate and expedite release of hostages.

Nick Schifrin:

You have said, that the military operation, you hope, pressures them to release hostages.

Are you also providing any carrots to Hamas to convince them to release hostages?

Mark Regev:

The military pressure, we think, is what needs to be done.

There are, of course, in parallel, these talks that Qatar is conducting. Qatar has a relationship with Hamas. The Hamas leadership is — lives in Qatar. They're hosted there by the government of Qatar. And Qatar tells the world, well, we have a relationship with these people, and that's good for the West.

I mean, they have a relationship with people who committed the atrocities of a month ago, October 7, the massacre, people who raped, who murdered, who massacred, who burnt people alive, terrible, terrible things. Now, they are saying, the people of the government of Qatar, they say, well, this relationship serves the interests of the West.

OK, we're waiting to see. Can you leverage your relationship to expedite the release of hostages? Let's see. I hope they succeed. But we're waiting to see if there are results.

Nick Schifrin:

And Qatar, of course, is right in the middle of that hostage negotiation, as you say.

Let me move you on to the day after the war in Gaza. Yesterday, the prime minister told ABC's David Muir that Israel planned — quote — "indefinite security control" over Gaza.

Can you explain that? Does that include controlling any territory inside Gaza?

Mark Regev:

So, we're not talking about any sort of long-term Israeli occupation. We have no desire to rule over the people of Gaza. And we have no desire to govern the Gaza Strip.

We have to make a distinction between political control and security presence. Ultimately, we don't want to defeat Hamas and destroy them just to see another group of terrorists come on and threaten us from the Gaza Strip again. So, I think, at least at the beginning, following this operation, to prevent resurgent terrorist groups, we will need an Israeli polit — security presence.

That doesn't necessarily have to be static. That could be fluid. That could be going in and out, as is needed be, to deal with possible threats.

Nick Schifrin:

You just…

Mark Regev:

Ultimately, we want the people of Gaza to govern themselves.

Nick Schifrin:

Sorry to interrupt, Mark. You just slipped and almost said political presence.

Just to confirm, you are not talking about any kind of governance offering Gaza. You are only talking about a security presence. Could that include a buffer zone?

Mark Regev:

Yes, I believe there will be a buffer zone. There needs to be, after what we have been through, yes.

But I think the idea is, look, Hamas has been ruling the Gaza Strip for 16 years. They have produced nothing for the Palestinians of Gaza, nothing but pain, nothing but bloodshed, nothing but suffering, and nothing but impoverishment. Whoever comes after Hamas will be better for Israel, because our citizens in the southern part of my country will be able to live without fear of having their children butchered in the middle of the night by terrorists coming from across the frontier.

And it ultimately will be better for the people of Gaza, who deserve better than this terrorist regime that doesn't give a hoot about the interests and the well-being of the Gazan civilian population. We see that in the way they're acting in this conflict.

Nick Schifrin:

To have that peace in Southern Israel, of course, there will have to be governance in Gaza. The U.S. has suggested that governments could be taken over by the Palestinian Authority, which currently is in charge of the West Bank.

The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority was asked by my colleague Leila Molana-Allen about this, and he said — quote — "The P.A. will not go into Gaza on an Israeli military tank" and the only way the P.A. would participate in the governance of Gaza was — quote — "as a part of a solution that deals with the question of Palestine, that deals with question of occupation."

So will the Israeli government consider to pursue a two-state solution, if that is what the P.A. requires to take over Gaza?

Mark Regev:

Well, if we were having a discussion about the P.A., we're a month after the horrific attacks of October 7, and the P.A. has yet to condemn those attacks.

And if the P.A. wants to be considered a partner in peace, one has to ask why they refuse to condemn Hamas' atrocities. Why can't they condemn the rapes, the murders, the beheadings? You have seen, we have all seen the atrocities committed by Hamas. If they can't condemn that, what sort of partner in peace are they?

Nick Schifrin:

Let me move to the air campaign and the ground campaign in Gaza.

And let me show you some video over the last few days, aftermath of an attack on the Jabalia refugee camp. The target was Hamas commanders and a Hamas tunnel under that camp. And when the tunnel collapsed, an entire city block collapsed, an unknown number.

So, let me ask you, how many Gazans are you willing to kill inadvertently in order to kill Hamas' leaders and collapse that tunnel?

Mark Regev:

So, we have been calling, as you have been — reported on the "NewsHour," for weeks now, we have been urging Palestinians in the Northern Gaza Strip to relocate south, because we knew there would be intense fighting in the north.

And we asked people, please move out of danger. We don't want to see you caught up in the crossfire between us, between the Israel Defense Forces, and the Hamas terrorists.

And the truth is, the overwhelming majority of the population did move south. They did vote with their feet, and they exited the area. Now, Hamas tried to stop them. Hamas ordered people to stay. Hamas actually presented — created physical barriers and, at gunpoint, kept people in.

But our goal was to get most people out of the combat area to keep them safe, and most of them did leave.

(Crosstalk)

Nick Schifrin:

But, as you know, there are still 200 — so sorry to interrupt. Sorry to interrupt.

But there are still 200,000, 300,000 people in Northern Gaza. Do you — if Israel could kill one Hamas commander or take out one tunnel and, for example, know that 100 civilians could be killed, would you take that shot?

Mark Regev:

Well, first of all, we don't know that 100 civilians were killed, yes? Let's be clear. We don't know.

I saw some of those pictures from the bombing on the bomb site. They all look like men of military age. And, of course, you know that the Hamas terrorists don't wear uniforms. And we have to understand that.

It also has to be said, all the information coming out of Gaza is supplied by the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, and they're giving out Hamas' numbers, and they have to be taken with a grain of salt. And I even dare say that even the pictures coming out of Gaza are controlled by Hamas. We have not seen — and I challenge you, have we seen a single picture of one Hamas terrorist killed by the Israelis in our strikes? No.

They only show you pictures of civilians. So, either you can presume we're only killing civilians, which is obviously illogical, or that Hamas is managing to control the pictures.

Nick Schifrin:

But there are, of course, women and children dying.

And I only have about 30 seconds, Mark. So let me just ask this question. Do you worry that Israel is creating a new generation of Palestinians who will join Hamas or whatever comes after with these bombings, or do you worry that these bombings will create more pressure on your campaign before it's finally over, before you can get your goals completed?

Mark Regev:

Nick, I hope that, at the end of this operation, first of all, that Hamas will be gone. And they will be gone. We will succeed in doing that.

But I think we will have discredited the sort of extremism, the sort of fanaticism and the sort of barbarism that Hamas has shown. Palestinians need to understand that Hamas is a dead end. Hamas only promises a future of blood and suffering, while the past — path of cooperation, the path of negotiation, the path of living with Israel in peace, that offers so much more.

Nick Schifrin:

Yes.

Mark Regev:

And the Arab world has opened up to Israel over the last few years in ways like never before.

Nick Schifrin:

Yes.

Mark Regev:

We have seen new relationships formed with countries across the Gulf.

As you know, just before this crisis, there was talk of Israel and Saudi Arabia normalizing ties. It's time the Palestinians also joined the circle of peace.

Nick Schifrin:

All right, we will have to finish it there.

Mark Regev, senior adviser to the prime minister of Israel, thank you very much.

Mark Regev:

Thanks for having me.