WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's goal of seizing 70 percent of the Gaza Strip was not part of the U.S.-drafted 20-point plan to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas and rebuild the territory, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday.
"We have a plan -- it doesn't call for that," Rubio told U.S. lawmakers at a hearing.
"And at the end of the day, we understand that what we want, and I think what the Israelis would ultimately want, is a Gaza that is governed by a non-Hamas (entity)," Rubio said.
Netanyahu said on Thursday that he had issued a directive to increase the Israeli military's control over the Gaza Strip from 60 percent to 70 percent of the territory.
