‘The Day After’: Netanyahu Sets Up Team to Discuss Postwar Gaza Plans after Telling Hamas to Surrende
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set up a small and secret team of top allies.
And representatives from Israel’s defence community to discuss postwar plans for the Gaza Strip, according to a report by Israeli broadcaster Channel 13.
Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and minister of strategic affairs Ron Dermer representatives from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Mossad, and the Shin Bet are members of the team, led by Hanegbi.
Mike Herzog, Israel’s envoy to the US, was also at the meetings. The team has met four times earlier and will meet once more this week. It is unclear if US national security advisor Jake Sullivan will be briefed regarding the discussions.
The setting up of the team seems to have come at the behest of the Biden administration. “(Israel) informed the Americans about the existence of the team, and it is important to the Biden administration that Jerusalem present a plan for the day after,” a person familiar with the developments told Israeli broadcaster Channel 13.
The US on several occasions has urged Israel to wrap up its operations in Gaza Strip by the end of the year. Israel, without giving any commitment to do so, said that its main objective is to eliminate Hamas and end its rule in Gaza.
Israel may also rope in Saudi Arabia and the UAE to discuss building the infrastructure with them in postwar Gaza, according to Hanegbi. “(There is) a high probability that the day after will have to include the cooperation of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and the building of infrastructure in partnership with them to prevent a future war,” Hanegbi was quoted as saying by Channel 13.
“There needs to be a radical change in the Palestinian Authority and its education system. Without these cultural changes Israel will find itself facing a hostile population,” Israeli minister Dermer said.
An IDF spokesperson said that the final decision will be taken at a political level.
WHAT DOES THE PLAN LOOK LIKE?
Israel may retain an open-ended security presence in Gaza and could impose a buffer zone to keep Gazans away from the Israeli border. The US has opposed this plan.
Israel has ruled out suggestions that the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas-led Palestinian Authority, ousted from Gaza by Hamas in 2007 and governs semi-autonomous areas of the West Bank, will be given a role to play in Gaza.
The US said earlier that they will not allow Israel to reoccupy Gaza or further shrink its already small territory and have urged a reformed Palestinian authority to take over the reins.
The US has strongly backed the resumption of peace talks aiming to implement the two-state solution to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is a long-time sceptic of the two-state solution. He, over the weekend, told Gazans and Hamas sympathisers to not give their lives for Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader who governs Gaza.
“It is the beginning of the end of Hamas. I say to the Hamas terrorists: It’s over. Don’t die for (Yahya) Sinwar. Surrender now,” he said, referring to the Hamas chief in Gaza.