Katz orders IDF plan for ‘complete defeat of Hamas’ if no hostage deal by Jan. 20
Defense minister’s office says he told military that freeing hostages is ‘top priority,’ warns against Israel being ‘drawn into war of attrition that will cost us heavily’
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Friday that he had ordered the military to present him with a plan “for the complete defeat of Hamas in Gaza,” to be implemented if there is no hostage deal inked with the Palestinian terror group by the time incoming US president Donald Trump enters the White House.
“If the hostage deal does not materialize by the time President Trump takes office, there must be a complete defeat of Hamas in Gaza,” Katz said in a statement issued by his office.
Trump has threatened that there will be “hell to pay” if Israeli hostages held by the terror group aren’t released before he takes office on January 20.
“We must not be drawn into a war of attrition that will cost us heavily and not lead to victory and the complete strategic defeat of Hamas and the end of the war in Gaza,” Katz said, some 15 months after war erupted with the terror group’s brutal October 7, 2023, onslaught.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 398. The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission and a Defense Ministry civilian contractor.
Katz said he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to present him with plans for the “complete defeat” of Hamas during a Thursday night assessment with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and other top officers.
According to Katz’s office, the minister “emphasized that the issue of releasing the hostages has been the top priority of the defense establishment since he took office and that everything must be done to bring them home.”
“The defense minister emphasized that we must not be drawn into a war of attrition against Hamas in Gaza, while the hostages remain in the tunnels with their lives in danger and while they suffer severely,” the statement added.
It is believed that 94 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Katz asked the IDF to “specify the issues that might make it difficult to carry out the plan, including the humanitarian issue and other issues, and leave it to the political echelon to make the necessary decisions,” according to the statement.
The defense minister also “emphasized that the matter of the political solution to Gaza is not relevant to the issue of the plan and the activity required now, because no Arab or other party will take responsibility for managing civilian life in Gaza as long as Hamas is not completely crushed.”
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has been reticent to sign off on a plan for post-war management of Gaza, there has been support for the empowerment of local Palestinian clans unaffiliated with terrorism to administer services in the Strip instead of Hamas.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel will not allow the Palestinian Authority to return to govern Gaza, though there have been indications that Jerusalem could live with a reformed PA of the kind that the Biden administration has been pushing.
The defense minister’s announcement came amid growing tensions between him and the IDF chief. Katz recently informed Halevi that he would not sign off on a series of promotions and appointments until the military presents its probe into its failings before and during the October 7 assault.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
