Israeli Minister reveals his post-war plans for Gaza

• https://www.bolnews.com/international/2023/03/israeli-minister-claims-that-there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-palestinian-inviting-us-rebuke/Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will adopt a targeted approach in the north.
• The IDF will continue efforts to locate Hamas leaders and rescue Israeli hostages.
• Hamas-run health ministry reports 125 deaths in the past 24 hours across Gaza.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has proposed future governance for Gaza once the Israel-Hamas war concludes. He outlined a “four corner” plan in which Israel would maintain overall security control, excluding Hamas from Gaza.

A multi-national force would handle the reconstruction after the Israeli bombings, and Egypt would play an unspecified role. Palestinians would be tasked with running the territory. Fighting in Gaza continued with dozens killed in the past 24 hours, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

People expect US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to visit the region this week amidst heightened tensions, following Israel’s widely attributed assassination of top Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

“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,” Mr Gallant said.

The cabinet meeting did not delve into the plan’s details, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refrained from public comments on it. The meeting reportedly dissolved amid anger, with some ministers vehemently objecting to the proposed names for an investigation into the events surrounding the 7 October attack by Hamas.

Talk of the “day after” in Gaza has led to deep disagreement in Israel.

Some far-right members of Mr Netanyahu’s government have advocated encouraging Palestinian citizens to leave Gaza for exile, proposing the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in the territory. Other countries in the region and some of Israel’s allies have rejected these controversial proposals as “extremist” and “unworkable.”

Although critics may consider Mr. Gallant’s proposals more practical than those of some of his cabin colleges, Palestine leaders will likely reject them. They insist that Gazans must have full control of running the territory once the devastating war concludes.

Mr Netanyahu has not publicly discussed how he believes Gaza should be governed. He has suggested that the war in Gaza might last several more months, aiming to crush Hamas completely.

Mr Gallant’s plan also outlined the Israeli military’s approach in the next phase of the war in Gaza. He stated that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would adopt a more targeted approach in the north of the Gaza Strip, involving operations such as raids, tunnel demolitions, and air and ground strikes.

In the south, the Israeli military would continue efforts to locate Hamas leaders and rescue Israeli hostages. On Thursday, the IDF reported hitting areas in Gaza’s north and south, including Gaza City and Khan Younis. Strikes targeted “terrorist infrastructure,” and individuals described as militants were killed for attempting to detonate explosives next to soldiers.

The IDF also announced the killing of a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative, Mamdouh Lolo, in an airstrike.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reports that in the past 24 hours across the Strip, something killed 125 people. Israeli airstrikes reportedly killed 14 people, including nine children, in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis. Israeli forces have designated this small town as a “safe space” for displaced Palestinians, but the IDF has not commented on the claims that Hamas made.

“We were sleeping at midnight when a strike hit the camp on the tents, 4×2 tents where people were sleeping, most of them children,” eyewitness Jamal Hamad Salah told Reuters news agency. “We found one body there that flew 40 meters away.”

“There is nowhere safe in Gaza,” aid agency Save the Children’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territory, Jason Lee, said. “Camps, shelters, schools, hospitals, homes and so-called ‘safe zones’ should not be battlegrounds.”

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