Israeli minister: 'No choice' but to retake Gaza

Far right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Thursday that Israel will eventually have to reconquer the Gaza Strip as 15 military operations in two decades there failed to defeat Palestinian resistance groups. 

Smotrich called Israel's constant fighting with Palestinian groups a "chronic problem" that must be dealt with once and for all. 

“The time will probably come to return to Gaza, disassemble Hamas and demilitarise Gaza. This too will be carried out according to the broad interests and considerations of the State of Israel,” Smotrich said in an interview with Channel 14. “I believe the moment will come when there won’t be a choice but to reconquer Gaza.”

However, he added that it was not something being considered at the moment by the security cabinet. 

His comments were echoed by National Missions Minister Orit Strock of the same Religious Zionism party. 

“Israel fled twice from Gaza — the first time during Oslo, the second in the [2005] disengagement. This can’t be an acceptable security situation in Gaza,” Strock said in an interview with Kan news

“Looking long-term, there won’t be a choice but to do it [retake Gaza],” she added.

Israel unilaterally withdrew troops and settlements from Gaza in 2005 but maintained an air, sea and land blockade since.