The Israeli Minister of Security, Yoav Galant, and the security level, during the session of the War Council and the Ministerial Council for Political and Security Affairs, on Thursday night, present the security level plan for the so-called “day after” the war on the Gaza Strip, which proposes local administration of the Strip, international supervision, and “freedom of movement" of the occupation army in the Gaza Strip.

The occupation acts as if it is confident of achieving the goals of the war, most notably the elimination of Hamas and the various Palestinian resistance factions, despite the continuing heavy losses among its forces.

Speaking to reporters before the start of the session, Gallant revealed parts of the plan according to which “Israel will assume security responsibility for everything that happens in the Gaza Strip,” and it also aspires to maintain complete freedom of military operations.

The plan proposes that civil responsibility in the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli security level’s proposal, be assumed by local Palestinian parties working alongside international forces, led by the United States, in cooperation with countries from Western Europe and a number of Arab countries that Israel describes as “moderate.”

Gallant said, "Israel will not take civilian control of the Gaza Strip, but Hamas will not rule it either," as he put it. Rather, "Palestinian parties are not hostile to Israel, and cannot work against it."

Maariv newspaper indicated in its review of the plan that Israeli security officials are working on formulating the proposed plan, these days, in coordination with the White House and the US Departments of Defense and State, and that “the development of the plan is continuing.”

Four central points in the occupation plan:

Israel will be responsible for providing information aimed at directing the actions and civilian activities of the international multinational force, which will be formed specifically to rebuild the Strip. Due to security needs, Israel will conduct inspections of any goods entering the Strip.

The United States will lead the multinational force in partnership with Western European countries and the “moderate Gulf states” that have normalization agreements with Israel. The force will assume responsibility for the reconstruction of Gaza on the construction and economic levels. It will also be the main address for all international parties interested in assisting in the reconstruction of the Strip due to the destruction it sustained during the war.

Egypt will serve as a bridge of civilian entry into the Strip and serve as a “main station.”

In this context, Israeli occupation estimates indicate that “cooperation with the Egyptians will be important and pivotal to any solution. With regard to the Philadelphia axis and the border line between the Gaza Strip and Sinai, the intention appears to be to conduct an operation to implement “effective isolation” of the border using technological means above and below the ground. In practice, the occupation talks about joint Israeli-Egyptian control over the crossing through which goods will enter the Gaza Strip, and Tel Aviv and Cairo will work together to build it.

Forming the Palestinian body that will govern the Strip, on the basis of the existing administrative apparatus in Gaza, as there are about 30,000 people in the Gaza Strip who have constituted the actual administrative apparatus for decades. These committees will be the headquarters of the multinational force, and their members will be approved by Israel through the Shin Bet and the Coordinator of Occupation Operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Israeli estimates indicate that "a certain percentage of this population is still supportive of the Hamas movement, but most of them are not hostile (to Israel), and are linked to the local committees present in the cities and towns of the Gaza Strip as representatives of the population."

According to Maariv, Israel now has “a map of the local tribes and entities that can rule the Gaza Strip, and it can form a basis for the next day.”

The Hebrew newspaper indicated on its website that this initiative is still under preparation, and that there are also many issues that have not yet become clear, most notably the issue of law enforcement and imposing order in the Gaza Strip, adding that the most likely assessment in Israel currently is that it is not correct for the Palestinian Authority to assume civilian control on the Gaza Strip, and the United States also understands this.

Israeli responses

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich commented on the plan by saying that it is “a return to the day before October 7. The solution in Gaza requires thinking outside the box and changing the perception by encouraging voluntary immigration and full security control (by Israel), including re-settlement.”

For her part, Settlement Minister Orit Struck said: “When the cabinet meets to discuss the next day, he must remember the written contract between it and the soldiers who went out to war and their families. In the contract it is written: ‘Eliminate all of Hamas’ military, authoritarian, and economic capabilities.’” And eliminate any threat from Gaza towards Israel.” The plan that will be presented tonight in the cabinet does not meet the minimum of these matters, so from a moral standpoint it must be rejected.

Washington proposes a model that combines Gaza and the West Bank “under one administration”

In a related context, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that a management model that would unify the West Bank and Gaza Strip under one administration should be discussed in the future.

Miller explained, in a press conference on Thursday, that his country will discuss the need to manage the unification of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under Palestinian leadership.

Miller declined to provide further details about this proposal, saying only: “Discussions about this matter should be held in private diplomatic meetings.”

It is noteworthy that the head of the Political Bureau of the Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh, said, the day before yesterday, Tuesday, that any arrangements in the Palestinian issue without the Hamas movement are “an illusion and a mirage,” in reference to the efforts of Washington and Israel to change the form of government in the Gaza Strip, adding that "there will be no chaos or vacuum in the sector, as the police and security services are currently working, and government institutions are doing their best with the capabilities available in light of the war and aggression.”

Haniyeh also indicated that his movement “received many initiatives related to the internal Palestinian situation issued by Palestinian and Arab parties and figures concerned for our people and our cause, and we assured everyone of the movement’s adherence to the unity of the people and the cause (...) and we are open to all national components in order to rebuild the national reference within the framework of the PLO through the democratic choice, in addition to agreeing on a national government for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”

A week ago, Hamas leader Osama Hamdan affirmed, during a press conference, in response to talk about the future of the Gaza Strip and the “day after” the war, that “management of Palestinian affairs is an internal Palestinian decision, and our people will not accept a leadership that comes to them on the back of a tank.”

Source: Alaraby Aljadeed