Israel to discuss taking full military control of Gaza with senior US officials: source
Strategic Affairs Minister Dermer said planning to talk about an IDF takeover of enclave, including running humanitarian aid operations; Netanyahu speaks to Rubio
During a visit to Washington DC this week, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer will discuss with senior US officials a plan for Israeli military control over the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel. The plan will include the IDF distributing aid to the war-torn enclave.
The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on the intended content of Dermer’s meetings with US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and other senior intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials.
The office did say that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone on Sunday with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The two discussed attempts to free hostages from captivity in Gaza, and the resumption of combat in the Strip, said Netanyahu’s office. According to the Israeli readout, Rubio expressed “America’s unequivocal support for Israel and its policies.”
As of last week, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi was also slated to fly to DC, but he will not be making the trip, the PMO said without offering a reason for the change.
Dermer was to take off for Washington later Sunday.
According to the Walla outlet, Dermer was leading a delegation from the National Security Council, IDF, Mossad, Foreign Ministry and Israel Atomic Energy Agency.
Israel has until now avoided pushing for military rule of the Gaza Strip, but with a new IDF chief of staff and defense minister — not to mention a new president in the White House — Israel’s thinking appears to have changed, The Washington Post reported, citing current and former Israeli officials, as well as others, briefed on the developments.
Last September, Netanyahu asked the IDF to look at taking over aid distribution to prevent Hamas pilfering supplies but both then-defense minister Yoav Gallant and then-IDF chief of staff Herzl Halevi opposed the idea.
However, by February Israeli officials were telling international aid agencies of plans for humanitarian resources to be screened in “logistic hubs” set up by Israel, some agency officials told the US newspaper.
Amir Avivi, a former deputy commander of the military’s Gaza division, told the Post that previously the campaign in Gaza was held back by rifts among political and military leaders, as well as the Biden administration’s wariness over Gazan civilian casualties. However, changes in Israel’s defense establishment, as well as the Trump administration in Washington, has eased such curbs.
“Now there is new leadership, there is the backup from the US,” Avivi said, and noted that Israel is also no longer distracted by conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon. “The plans [for the now-resumed Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza] are decisive. There will be a full-scale attack and they will not stop until Hamas is eradicated completely.”
Other unnamed sources said the tactics will include targeting Hamas’s civilian leadership while evacuating women, children and vetted noncombatants to “humanitarian bubbles,” then focusing on destroying Hamas members who remain behind.
Israeli officials also told The Washington Post that an invasion and occupation of Gaza would demand up to five IDF divisions, a scale of deployment that could burden the IDF, which is already facing hostility from some reservists over the prospect of an open-ended war.
Other officials contended that just such an invasion is needed to achieve Netanyahu’s war goal of destroying Hamas.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led over 5,000 attackers to invade southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 as hostages to the Gaza Strip.
The following day, Iran-backed Hezbollah began attacking along the northern border, igniting a conflict that escalated into an open war that ended with a ceasefire last November, after Israel inflicted heavy damage on the terror group.
Then in January, Israel reached a mediated ceasefire with Hamas. The complex, three-phase plan saw dozens of hostages released during its initial stage but then failed to proceed further amid mutual accusations of violations.
Last week, Israel launched widespread airstrikes on Gaza, accusing Hamas of refusing to extend the ceasefire framework.
According to the Washington Post, the renewed Israeli offensive was notable in that it also targeted members of Hamas’s civil administration and not just military figures.
In the meantime, Israeli officials said they are waiting to see how negotiations on continuing the ceasefire play out and that no decisions have yet been made on increasing the current offensive or what shape an escalation would take. So far, Israel has largely been striking Gaza from the air, although there have also been some ground maneuvers.
Throughout the war, Netanyahu has faced criticism — including from the previous Biden administration — for not presenting a “day after” plan for Gaza when the war ends. Though various ideas were reportedly under consideration, US President Donald Trump in February offered his vision of clearing Gaza of its residents so that the US could develop the territory as a “riviera.”
Though the notion has been rejected outright by the Palestinians and Arab nations, it has been embraced by Netanyahu and especially by members of his coalition who seek the reestablishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza.
The Times of Israel Community.