President of the United States, Joe Biden has warned Israel that re-occupying the Gaza Strip would be a “big mistake.” although he defended the right of the Jewish state to enter the Palestinian enclave to destroy militants of the Islamist group Hamas.

Biden’s statements made in an interview that aired online this Sunday CBSintroduce his first public attempt to try to contain retaliation which Israel took against the Gaza Strip following the Hamas attack on October 7.

Until now, Biden reaffirms his unwavering support for Israel and avoided criticism of the Jewish state over the blockade imposed on Gaza that prevented the flow of water, food and medicine after the Hamas attack, despite UN warnings of the potential for a humanitarian crisis.

However, in an interview the president spoke reluctance to large-scale occupation of the Gaza Strip.

“I think that would be a big mistake.” Biden told CBS in an interview taped Thursday and broadcast Sunday night.

“What happened in Gaza, in my opinion, is that Hamas and its extreme elements do not represent the entire Palestinian people. And I think it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy the Gaza Strip again,” he said.

However, Biden believed that this it is necessary to “eliminate extremists” who are hiding among the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.

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Gaza Strip was under Egyptian rule between the truce during the Arab-Israeli War of 1949 and the Six Day War of 1967, when Israel captured Syrian Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005. The following year, Hamas, considered a terrorist group by several countries (including Israel, the United States and the European Union), competed in the 2006 elections and won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council.

Faced with the international threat of sanctions, the Islamist movement accepted a unity government with the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Mahmoud Abbas.

However, a fierce fight on the streets of the sector between Hamas supporters and supporters of the Palestinian president put an end to expulsion of the latter from the enclave.

Hamas began de facto rule in 2007 and has since The territory was isolated and blocked from land, sea and air by Egypt and Israel. In addition, it depends on supplies from the Jewish state.

The Israeli army forcibly entered the Gaza Strip in 2009 and 2014, but In both cases he chose not to remain in the area.

(EFE)