Hamas rejected on Sunday Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's proposal to send international forces to Gaza as part of a future peace agreement in the region, the Xinhua news agency reports.
Earlier on Sunday, during a meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Netanyahu said that under any future agreement, Israel would have to retain security control of Judea and Samaria, but suggested that Israel would consider looking at alternatives in Gaza, such as the entry of international forces into the coastal enclave.
Netanyahu acknowledged that Israel's past experience with international security forces has not been positive, but expressed willingness to try this model in Gaza.
Abdulatif al-Qanou, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said in response that sending international forces to Gaza "is a dangerous matter and it is totally rejected."
He warned that any foreign power or international forces sent to Gaza "will be treated as an occupation force," adding that "Hamas would never accept another new occupation."
Al-Qanou further said that the idea of sending international forces to Gaza "is a severe interference into the internal affairs of the enclave."
"We will forcibly confront it with all out powers whatever the price is," he threatened, according to Xinhua.
Al-Qanou also said that the "armed resistance will protect Gaza, which is the cornerstone of resistance and the gate that will lead us to the liberation of the entire occupied Palestinian territories from the Israeli occupation."
Hamas violently took control of Gaza from Fatah in 2007 and since then has been running a terrorist entity that is separate from the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, headed by Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.
As MK Avi Dichter (Likud) recently pointed out, Hamas being the de facto ruler of Gaza actually creates “a reality of three states for two peoples. Hamas took over Gaza and they are the third entity here, alongside the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and Israel.”
Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar last week rejected Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman’s offer for an international airport, seaport, and industrial zone in Gaza if Hamas stops building terror tunnels into Israeli territory, stops firing rockets on southern Israel and returns the Israelis it is holding in Gaza.