WHAT IS NETANYAHU’S POST-WAR GAZA PLAN?

Fri 23 February 2024:

Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu has presented the security cabinet with a document regarding the “management” of Gaza after the war, the Times of Israel has reported.

Here are its main points:

• The Israeli army will continue the war in Gaza until it achieves its goals: the dismantlement of military capabilities and infrastructure operated by Hamas and Islamic Jihad; the return of all captives abducted on October 7; and the removal of all security threats originating from Gaza.
• Once the war ends, Gaza will be run by “local officials” who are not tied to “countries or entities that support terrorism”. It is unclear whether representatives of the Palestinian Authority will be involved.
• Israel will promote a “de-radicalisation plan … in all religious, educational and welfare institutions in Gaza” with the involvement of “Arab countries that have experience in promoting de-radicalisation”.
• The plan envisions Gaza’s “complete demilitarisation … beyond what is required for the needs of maintaining public order”.
• Israel will only allow the reconstruction of Gaza to begin after the completion of the Gaza’s de-militarisation and the commencement of a “de-radicalisation process”.
• The Israeli army will maintain indefinitely the freedom to intervene in Gaza to prevent the resurgence of “terror activity”.
• Israel will continue to establish a security buffer zone on the Palestinian side of the Strip’s border that will remain in place “as long as there is a security need for it”.
• Israel will enforce a “southern closure” on the border between Egypt and Gaza with assistance from the US and in cooperation with Egypt “as much as possible”.
• Israel will maintain security control “over the entire area west of Jordan” from the land, air and sea to “thwart threats” from the occupied West Bank.
• The UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, will be shut.
• Israel rejects any international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians, which should only be reached through direct negotiations between the parties, and will continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, which it views as a “reward for terror”.

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