Katz to ministers: IDF preparing for possibility of war with Palestinian Authority

Defense Minister Israel Katz briefed ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting on the military’s preparations in the West Bank, telling them that the IDF has been ordered to be ready for a scenario of war with the Palestinian Authority.

Katz is known for his outspoken remarks, and there has been an increase in such comments in recent weeks, ahead of Israel’s October 27 election.

The “reference scenario” that has been defined for the IDF regarding the West Bank “stipulates that preparations must be made for the possibility of an attack by jihadist elements against settlers and IDF soldiers, as a lesson from the events of October 7,” Katz tells the ministers.

Katz says that the IDF “is preparing for a scenario in which the Palestinian Authority security forces and the Tanzim organization affiliated with it turn their guns against settlers and IDF troops” in the West Bank and along its border.

“In such a case, war would be declared against the Palestinian Authority, and the IDF would launch a comprehensive offensive in accordance with a detailed plan formulated and approved by Prime Minister Netanyahu and by me, based on the principles outlined for the IDF,” he says.

Katz says such a campaign against the PA in the West Bank “would be short and forceful and would include the use of ground and air forces and special means, the elimination and expulsion of senior officials, the destruction of weapons, and the large-scale evacuation of residents and destruction of terror infrastructure inside the cities and in all refugee camps… in accordance with the Gaza and Lebanon models, all alongside reinforcing forces and protecting Israeli communities.”

“There will not be an intifada lasting years as there was in the past, but rather a short and forceful war with a clear decision and a change in the reality,” he says.

Katz last month threatened “full-scale war” against the PA if it prepared an attack similar to the Hamas-led October 7 onslaught.

While elements of the government have long criticized the PA, Israel’s defense establishment maintains a different approach, viewing PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his security forces as an important ally in combating terror in the West Bank.