President Isaac Herzog has said Israel cannot leave a vacuum in Gaza and would have to maintain a strong force there for the near future to prevent Hamas from re-emerging in the strip, the Financial Times reports.

“If we pull back, then who will take over? We can’t leave a vacuum. We have to think about what will be the mechanism; there are many ideas that are thrown in the air,” the Israeli president said in an interview with the FT.

“But no one will want to turn this place, Gaza, into a terror base again,” he added.