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Israel’s defence minister said there should be “no Israeli civilian presence” in Gaza when its war with Hamas is over, as he set out his vision for the next phases of the conflict and its aftermath.
In a document released on Thursday night, shortly before Israel’s war cabinet was due to discuss the postwar future of Gaza, Yoav Gallant said Israel should retain “operational freedom of action” in the enclave and take any action needed to “ensure that Gaza will pose no threat to Israel”.
However, he said that once the fighting was over, civilian governance of the territory should be in the hands of the Palestinians.
“Gaza residents are Palestinian, therefore Palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel,” the document released by his office said.
“Hamas will not govern Gaza, Israel will not govern Gaza’s civilians.”
Gallant also outlined his expectations for the next stages of fighting in Gaza, saying that in the north of the enclave, the focus would include raids, the destruction of Hamas’s tunnel infrastructure, and special operations.
In the south of the strip, to where most of Gaza’s population have now fled, Israeli forces would “focus on eliminating Hamas leadership” and bringing home the hostages still held in Gaza.
Israel declared war on Hamas after the Palestinian militant group launched a deadly attack on Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and taking another 240 hostage.
In response, Israel has launched a devastating bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, which has killed more than 22,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, as well as displacing 1.9mn of the enclave’s 2.3mn inhabitants.
Israeli officials have given relatively few details of how they envisage arrangements for governing Gaza once the fighting has ended, amid deep divisions within the government over the enclave’s future.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected suggestions from US officials that the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the occupied West Bank, should in future also play a leading role in Gaza, which it ruled until it was ousted by Hamas in 2007. But he has stopped short of setting out his own plan for the territory.
Meanwhile, far-right members of Netanyahu’s government, including the ultranationalist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have called for the re-establishment of Jewish settlements in the enclave, from which Israel withdrew in 2005.
Gallant’s vision for the territory’s postwar governance — which is not yet the government’s position — includes the involvement of four parties: Israel, the Palestinians, Egypt and a multinational force.
The document released by his office said Israel would “provide information to guide civilian operations” and, for security reasons, also inspect all goods entering Gaza.
He said the Palestinian body controlling the territory would “build on the capabilities of the existing administrative mechanism” in Gaza as well as “local non-hostile actors”, but gave no further details of who these figures would be.
Gallant added that a multinational task force led by the US should “take responsibility for the rehabilitation of the Gaza strip”, in partnership with other European and regional countries.
He also said that Israel was in talks with Egypt over the future of the enclave, without providing details of what role Cairo might play.