A senior Israeli official indicated today, Thursday, that "Israel is seeking to appoint Palestinians not affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to manage civil affairs in designated areas of the Gaza Strip, which will serve as a testing ground for the administration of the region post-war." However, Hamas responded that the "plan, which the Israeli official stated would also exclude any employees listed on the payroll of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, would amount to an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza and is doomed to fail."
The Israeli official stated that the planned "humanitarian enclaves" will be launched in areas from which Hamas has been expelled, but the ultimate success of this initiative will depend on Israel's goal of destroying Hamas in the coastal enclave it controls. The official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said, "We are looking for the right individuals to step up to the responsibility... but it is clear that this will take time, as no one will step forward if they believe Hamas will target them." The official added that the plan "could be realized once Hamas is destroyed and the threat it poses to Israel or the residents of Gaza is eliminated."
Israeli Channel 12 reported that the Al-Zeitoun neighborhood in northern Gaza City is being considered for the implementation of the plan, under which local traders and civil society leaders will distribute humanitarian aid. It added that "the Israeli army will provide security around Al-Zeitoun," and described recent incursions by forces there this week as aimed at eliminating remnants of Hamas strongholds that suffered heavy blows in the early stages of the war.
In response to the Israeli official's remarks and Channel 12's report, Hamas's political bureau head abroad, Sami Abu Zuhri, stated: "Such a plan would be an Israeli reoccupation of the Gaza Strip from which it withdrew its troops and settlers in 2005." Israel claims it will retain indefinite security control over Gaza after the war but denies that this constitutes a reoccupation. Abu Zuhri told Reuters, "We are confident that this project is a form of absurdity and confusion and will not succeed in any case."
The Israeli official also clarified that the Palestinian Authority, which has limited authority in the occupied West Bank, will also be barred from being a partner in the "humanitarian enclaves" due to its failure to condemn the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. Israel says militants killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in that attack, leading to an Israeli ground and aerial offensive on Gaza that health authorities there say has resulted in nearly 30,000 deaths.
The official remarked, "Anyone who participated, or even failed to condemn the October 7 attack is excluded." Waseel Abu Yusuf, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization, which includes the Palestinian Authority, rejected the Israeli plan today. He told Reuters, "Everything that Israel is doing to change the geographical and demographic features of Gaza will not succeed, and the talk about local administration here or there is a desperate Israeli attempt that will lead to nothing. The Palestinian people, who have stood against the Israeli war machine for 140 days now, will only accept an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."
Nevertheless, the official stated that Israel would be open to considering partners for the "humanitarian enclaves" who have previous ties to Fatah, the more secular counterpart to Hamas that dominates the Palestinian Authority. The United States has called for "reactivating" the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza after the war, but Israel has not embraced the idea, pointing to the Authority's compensation to imprisoned militants.
