Jerusalem:
Israel is looking for Palestinians not affiliated with Hamas to run civilian affairs in areas of the Gaza Strip designed as a testing ground for postwar enclave management, a senior Israeli official said on Thursday.
But Hamas says the plan, which would lead to Israel’s reoccupation of Gaza, is doomed to fail. Israeli officials said the plan would also exclude anyone on the payroll of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.
Israeli officials say the planned “humanitarian pockets” will be located in areas of the Gaza Strip where Hamas has been ousted, but their ultimate success will depend on Israel achieving its goal of destroying the Islamist faction in the tiny coastal territory it holds . Always in power.
“We are looking for the right person,” the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. “But obviously it will take time because no one is going to step forward if they think Hamas is going to put a bullet in their head.” And out.”
The official added that the plan “could come to fruition after Hamas is destroyed and does not pose a threat to Israel or Gazans.”
Israel’s most-watched Channel 12 television station reported that the Zeitoun neighborhood in northern Gaza City was a candidate for the plan, under which local businessmen and civil society leaders would distribute humanitarian aid.
Channel 12 said the Israeli military will provide perimeter security in Zeitoun, adding that troops invaded the area again this week in an effort to root out the remnants of the Hamas garrison that suffered heavy losses early in the war.
Channel 12’s report has not yet been officially confirmed.
‘Signs of confusion’
Asked about the comments by Israeli officials and the Channel 12 report, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said such a plan would amount to Israel reoccupying Gaza, from which it withdrew its troops and settlers in 2005 . Israel says it will have indefinite security control over Gaza. after the war, but denied that it would be a reoccupation.
“We believe this project is pointless, a manifestation of chaos and will never succeed,” Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
The Israeli official also made clear that the Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited autonomy in the occupied West Bank, would also be banned from being a partner in the “humanitarian pocket” because it failed to condemn the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Israel says militants killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in that attack, prompting a ground offensive and aerial bombardment of Gaza that killed nearly 30,000 people, according to Gaza’s health authorities.
“Anyone who participated in or failed to condemn the events of October 7 is excluded,” the official said.
The United States has called for the creation of a “reenergized” Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza after the war. But Israel has been lukewarm to the idea, pointing out that the Palestinian Authority offers payments to imprisoned militants.
However, the official said Israel was willing to consider “humanitarian pocket” partners with past ties to the Palestinian Authority’s dominant Fatah faction, Hamas’s more secular rival.
(Additional reporting by Nidal Mugrabi; Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Gareth Jones)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
