Israel downplays PA role in postwar Gaza, denies promising Saudis a Palestinian state
PM’s office partially refutes report claiming Palestinian Authority to control Rafah Crossing; Ron Dermer says there is ‘no promise’ to Riyadh on establishing Palestinian state
Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel

Israel attempted on Wednesday to play down reports and speculation that the Palestinian Authority would play a larger role in postwar Gaza and that a deal with Saudi Arabia could include the establishment of a Palestinian state.
With the start of the first stage of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, conversation around the “day after” in Gaza has intensified, with many international figures calling for the PA to return to controlling the Strip as well as for increased efforts toward reaching a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution.
According to a report in the Saudi-owned, UK-based Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday, Israel has agreed to allow the PA to take control of the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt in future stages of the deal.
The report said that in meetings this week in Cairo between Egyptian intelligence officials and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Mossad head David Barnea, Israel agreed to allow the PA to manage the crossing “under international and UN supervision.” The report, citing a source familiar with the meetings, noted that the current arrangements are temporary and “concern this stage only of the ceasefire.”
The Prime Minister’s Office partially denied the report, accusing the PA of attempting to “create a false picture to the effect that it controls the crossing.”
However, the PMO admitted that the current arrangement at the crossing is “correct for the first stage of the framework and will be evaluated in the future,” and that the PA currently plays a limited role at the border crossing.

According to the PMO, the IDF currently controls the crossing point and “nobody passes through it without supervision, oversight and advance approval of the IDF and Shin Bet.” It stated that “non-Hamas Gazans” provide technical management at the crossing with international oversight, and the PA provides the stamp on passports allowing Gazans to exit the Strip.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly refused to entertain the idea of the PA ruling postwar Gaza, accusing it of glorifying terror and supporting the October 7 attack. However, many in the Israeli security establishment have privately backed such a move due to the lack of any other viable alternative.
In March 2024, then-defense minister Yoav Gallant reportedly told a security cabinet meeting that PA rule in Gaza was the least bad option facing Israel.
Speaking at a press conference alongside his Italian counterpart on Monday, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar did not rule out the possibility of the PA playing a role in postwar Gaza, but said it would need to undergo serious reforms.
If the PA ended its support for terror, “addressed these problems, and changed their attitudes, it would be a different Palestinian Authority, and then we could seriously discuss together a better future for both nations,” Sa’ar said.
Speaking in the Knesset on Wednesday, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said Israel is part of discussions on the vision of a postwar Gaza but that any such arrangements must include international players.

“We’re working on it, I’m part of that work, on ‘the day after’ in Gaza,” Dermer said, speaking from the Knesset podium. “But you have to understand that any Israeli plan will be dead on arrival, because it’s an Israeli plan.”
Dermer said that, therefore, “we need to harness both the United States and regional powers” to take part in such efforts, declining to elaborate further on the potential partners.
“I’m very optimistic that we can achieve governance in Gaza the ‘day after’ exactly according to the framework set out by the prime minister,” Dermer added, shutting down a further question from an MK and suggesting that Israel needs to “talk less and do more.”
It was apparently the first time that Dermer, who he rarely gives public statements, has spoken in the Knesset plenum since his swearing-in as minister in December 2022.
The minister, considered a close confidant of Netanyahu, also denied that Israel has made any promise to Saudi Arabia that it would support the establishment of a Palestinian state in return for establishing ties.
“There’s no promise like this whatsoever,” Dermer said.

Speaking in Davos on Tuesday, President Isaac Herzog — who holds a largely ceremonial position — said that there was “real dialogue between Israel and Saudi Arabia” on normalization efforts.
Herzog said that though he was a longtime supporter of a two-state solution while leading the left-wing Labor party, the October 7 attack shook his worldview. Today, he said, he understands “that there must be political move forward on the Palestinian front,” but he believes that the “trajectory of moving forward with Saudi Arabia, with Arab countries, which of course, puts the Palestinian issue as a focal point in the discussions, is something which makes more sense to me.”
Netanyahu has said that his opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state has only intensified following Hamas’s October 7 massacre, and in February 2024 he said that “everyone knows that I am the one who for decades blocked the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger our existence.”
The Knesset in July 2024 voted overwhelmingly to pass a resolution rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state, even as part of a negotiated settlement with Israel.