From civilian ‘bubbles’ to Arab coalitions, Israel said weighing Gaza post-war schemes
WSJ reports Netanyahu entertaining plan that would see Palestinian civilians kept in humanitarian safe zones while IDF continues fight against Hamas

Israeli and American officials are weighing competing proposals for a post-war plan for the Gaza Strip, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, though progress on the plans is being held up by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to seriously consider the issue until the offensive against Hamas ends.
One plan that is reportedly gaining traction in the political and military establishments would see the creation of “bubbles” or “islands” inside the enclave, which would serve as temporary shelters for Palestinians unaffiliated with the terror group Hamas.
Were it to be determined that Hamas no longer holds influence over such a bubble, the unaffiliated Palestinians would take on civic duties and distribute aid. Over time, a coalition of the US and Arab countries would manage the area.
Presumably, once Palestinian civilians are relocated to these bubbles, the Israel Defense Forces would have a freer hand to pursue remaining terrorist cells in Gaza. As Hamas is cleared out of more areas, the bubbles would expand.
Israel Ziv, a retired major general who is one of that plan’s designers, told The Wall Street Journal that Palestinians who denounce Hamas would be given the right to live in a bubble and reconstruct homes.
Ziv added that over time the Palestinian Authority could be brought in to administrate the area, and Hamas could also take part in administration if it releases the hostages it currently holds and disarms its military wing. However, Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out accepting either of those scenarios.
In rare comments last week, Netanyahu said the government would soon begin implementing a phased plan to found a civil administration in the north of the Strip run by local Palestinians, eventually with security assistance from Arab countries. While the Prime Minister’s Office did not provide comment on the so-called day-after plan, Israeli officials told The Wall Street Journal the premier was likely referring to the bubbles plan.
A separate plan, envisioned by the right-wing Misgav think tank, calls for a long-term Israeli military occupation of Gaza, at least until three-quarters of the military wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have been eliminated. According to the report, the IDF estimates it has killed or captured about half of Hamas’s fighting force. Only once that objective is accomplished would the administration of the enclave by a separate force be feasible, the think tank said.
In the meantime, the proposal, which was submitted to Netanyahu by Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, would see northern Gaza remaining without reconstruction. Its residents, who have mostly evacuated to the southern part of the Strip, would not be allowed to return, at least until Hamas’s tunnel network is destroyed.
While the Misgav plan also calls for humanitarian areas in which aid could be distributed, the proposal does not endorse giving locals administrative responsibilities.
The plan’s creators reportedly believe the military occupation of Gaza will last between one and five years.
The Wall Street Journal presented a third plan, spearheaded by an unnamed former head of Israeli intelligence, which calls for Israel to collaborate with the US and Arab countries to create a new Palestinian governing body that would work with Israel to fight terrorism. As a compromise between Arab states’ demand that their participation in a day-after plan be conditioned upon an Israeli commitment to a Palestinian state and Netanyahu’s refusal to make such a commitment, the plan calls for discussions on that issue to begin five years after the war.
A fourth plan, devised by the Washington-based Wilson Center, calls for a US-led international police force to administer Gaza without requiring Israel to commit to achieving Palestinian statehood. Eventually, the police force would hand over administrative duties to an undefined Palestinian body.
Robert Silverman, a former US diplomat in Iraq who co-authored that plan, said that despite amending the proposal to fit Israeli demands, it was halted at the Prime Minister’s Office.
“[Netanyahu] believes we finish the war first and then plan the postwar,” Silverman told The Wall Street Journal. “All the people who have done this before say that’s a huge mistake.”

A fifth plan written by Israeli academics and reportedly seen by Netanyahu seeks to draw on historical precedents of rebuilding war zones, like post-World War II Germany and Japan, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan following the US occupation there. The document seen by The Wall Street Journal acknowledges the complexities in deradicalizing the education system in Gaza and finding new leadership, and therefore calls for the proposal to be implemented as soon as possible.