US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has told a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing that the status quo of Hamas staying in power in the densely populated country of Palestine could not continue on top of which even Israel is not ready to run Gaza. This begs to answer a serious question as to who will replace Hamas to rule over Gaza and Palestine in general? However, Anthony Blinken seems to have an answer for this, as he has said that a number of countries including the US and Israel are looking to form a multinational force amidst “a variety of possible permutations” in order to run the Gaza strip if Hamas is removed from power.

Between those two positions were "a variety of possible permutations that we're looking at very closely now, as are other countries", Blinken said. What would make the most sense at some point, Blinken said, was the existence of an "effective and revitalised Palestinian Authority" to have governance over Gaza, but it was a question of whether that can be achieved. Blinken said that if the revitalised Palestinian authority was not achievable then "then there are other temporary arrangements that may involve a number of other countries in the region. It may involve international agencies that would help provide for both security and governance".

To achieve the formation of a multinational force, Washington is speaking to a number of countries as well as Israel on how to govern the land of Palestine if Hamas is ousted and Israel is victorious. Among those options if the formation of a multinational force that may involve US troops or Gaza being placed under United Nations oversight temporarily.

"We have had very preliminary talks about what the future of Gaza might look like," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a briefing. "I expect that it will be the subject of a good bit of diplomatic engagement moving forward," he added.

The current war between Israel and Gaza began on the 7th of October when Hamas militants invaded and attacked Israel and killed more than a thousand civilians which is the worst assault on Jews since the holocaust. After this Israel declared ‘state of war’ and vowed to wipe out Hamas from the face of Earth.

On Tuesday, Palestinian health officials said at least 50 Palestinians were killed when Israeli airstrikes hit a densely populated refugee camp in northern Gaza. UN and other aid officials said civilians in the besieged Palestinian enclave were engulfed by a public health catastrophe, with hospitals struggling to treat casualties as electricity supplies petered out.

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