From the Liveblog of
Friday, March 15, 2024
Gallant says PA-tied Palestinians are least bad option for Gaza rulers, is lambasted by fellow Likud ministers
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a security cabinet meeting earlier today that the best option Israel has for who will rule Gaza will be local Palestinians affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, Channel 13 reports.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has all but rejected the idea, instead trying to promote clans unaffiliated with Hamas or the PA, despite the idea widely being understood to be completely unviable.
Gallant told security cabinet ministers that Israel faces several options, the worst being continued Hamas rule if the IDF fails to completely dismantle the terror group’s military infrastructure. The next slightly less bad option would be permanent Israeli occupation of Gaza, which the IDF would pay for in blood and significant resources that it wouldn’t be able to use in the West Bank and on the Lebanon border.
Another potential scenario would be chaos in Gaza — potentially of the kind that led to last month’s aid convoy incident in which dozens were killed. This would lead to significant pressure from the international community and Israel would still have to devote a significant amount of energy to Gaza, Gallant said.
According to the defense minister, the least bad option would be having local Palestinians govern the Strip. But because this body won’t be Hamas, it means that “once in a while it will look at what is being said in Ramallah,” Channel 13 quotes Gallant as having said.
The stance infuriated fellow Likud ministers Miri Regev and Yariv Levin who accused Gallant of “promoting the Palestinian Authority.”
Gallant hit back saying that the ones paying the price for the government’s indecision on this issue have been IDF soldiers.
The Times of Israel Community.