US officials said that Israel is more willing to discuss plans for Gaza after the war, according to Axios.

President Joe Biden's team has reportedly been pressuring Israel since the early stages of the war to develop a plan for what will happen in Gaza after the conflict, which resulted in the deaths of more than 15,000 people in Gaza.

According to American officials with direct knowledge of the talks that took place this week between the Israeli government and the Biden administration, the United States wants to avoid a governance and security vacuum in Gaza after the war and not allow Hamas to rise again, Aksoy said.

A senior US official said that during talks this week with Phil Gordon, Vice President Kamala Harris' national security adviser, Israeli officials who had been focused on fighting the war were "ready to talk about the future" in Gaza.

The administration also expressed concern that Israel may continue its military ground operation in southern Gaza as it did in the northern part of the Strip.

Phil Gordon, National Security Advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris, is visiting Israel and the Palestinian Authority this week to discuss “day after” scenarios and plans.

He is accompanied by Harris' Middle East adviser Ilan Goldenberg, who is deeply involved in interagency planning on how to govern Gaza after the supposed overthrow of Hamas.

White House officials arrived in Israel from Dubai, where they accompanied Harris in her meetings with the leaders of the Emirates, Egypt and Jordan on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit. Its discussions in Dubai focused on the next day in Gaza.

In Israel, Harris' advisors met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, war cabinet member Benny Gantz, National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Minister Gadi Eisenkot, an observer in the war cabinet, and opposition leader Yair Lapid, according to the Axios website. .

US officials said the group discussed military objectives and operations in Gaza.

One US official reportedly said: “Gordon assured the Israelis that Hamas is an organization (..) and that no country can accept the threat posed by Hamas, and that we support (..) the military objectives of Israel.”

The official added that Gordon also stressed the importance of adhering to international humanitarian law and the need to increase humanitarian aid and protect civilians during the Israeli ground operation in southern Gaza.

US officials said Gordon briefed the Israelis on Harris' conversations in Dubai with Arab leaders about what happens after the end of the war in Gaza and presented what Harris had put forward publicly about how the administration views reconstruction, security and governance in Gaza after the fighting.

Gordon's trip to Israel is the latest in a series of visits by senior American officials, who have been there weekly since the start of the war.

A third US official said US officials wanted to “be there every week so we can engage with the Israelis and Palestinians face-to-face on the issue of the next day.”

The officials added that Gordon told his Israeli counterparts that the United States wanted to have a plan for Gaza's future to avoid allowing Hamas to "return to life."

“There has been a move on the Israeli side from the point where they were focused solely on the fighting and refused to discuss the next day to the point where they were willing to talk about the future,” a senior US official said.

A senior Israeli official said that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Biden administration have been discussing the issue of post-war Gaza for weeks, and that there has been no change in the Israeli approach.

US officials acknowledged that there are still differences between how the United States views Gaza after the war and how Israel views it – mainly over the question of what role the Palestinian Authority will play.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu objected to the idea of the Palestinian Authority having a future role, stressing that the only way to ensure that post-war Gaza is demilitarized is for the Israeli military - not international forces - to oversee the process.

An American official said, “No one believes that the Palestinian Authority in its current state can manage Gaza and provide security, but no one currently sees any alternative to a Palestinian leadership in Gaza after the war.”

“We believe that we need to strengthen the Palestinian Authority so that it can govern Gaza,” he added.

The Biden administration is concerned that steps Israel has taken since the war — such as withholding a significant portion of the tax revenues it collects for the Palestinian Authority — have weakened the Authority’s ability to be effective.

“I have worked with many people inside and outside of government to figure out what comes next for Gaza,” President Biden said Tuesday. “I believe that the only available solution is the two-state solution.”

Gordon and Goldenberg will visit Ramallah on Wednesday to meet with senior officials in the Palestinian Authority.

“We have a lot of work to do to get everyone on the same page, including the Palestinians,” the official said. “It won't be easy.”

Souece: Sama News