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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a plan to his right-wing cabinet that said reconstruction in the devastated Gaza Strip should not commence until full demilitarisation is achieved, according to an official document seen by The National.
The two-page document, titled The Day After Hamas, shows the Israeli Prime Minister’s stringent vision for Gaza's future, including a series of challenging preconditions for the territory's rehabilitation after months of relentless bombing.
Central to these is the disarmament of the militant group Hamas and other factions, a goal that presents a complex and potential obstacle to the reconstruction efforts.
Mr Netanyahu's plan also calls for the closure of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, commonly known as UNRWA, the establishment of a security zone along Gaza's border, and sustained military autonomy over the long term.
“Rehabilitation of the strip will be possible only after the completion of demilitarisation and the beginning of the de-radicalisation process,” said the document.
“The rehabilitation programme will be carried out with funding and leadership by countries accepted by Israel,” it added.
The war in the coastal enclave is in its fifth month.
To date, Israeli military bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 29,500 Palestinians, displaced about 85 per cent of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents and laid to waste large portions of built-up areas in the strip.
Heavily tainted
Mr Netanyahu’s political legacy has been heavily tainted by the security failures during the unprecedented Hamas attacks on October 7 and he is facing calls for his resignation.
Despite his army's inability to destroy Hamas's capabilities so far during this current war, he promised in his vision “complete demilitarisation in the Gaza Strip from any military capability, beyond what is necessary for maintaining public order”.
He added that Israel “will maintain operational freedom of action throughout the Gaza Strip, without time limitation”, emphasising also that “the security zone established in the Gaza Strip along the border with Israel will exist as long as there is a security need for it”.
Israel will establish a “Southern Closure” on the Gaza-Egypt border “to prevent the renewed empowerment of terrorist elements in the Gaza Strip”, according to the document.
Arab diplomats have said that the future government of Gaza should be discussed only after the Israeli war ends.
But Mr Netanyahu’s vision states that the civil administration and responsibility for public order “will be based on local elements with management experience”.
It stated that a “comprehensive de-radicalisation programme will be promoted in all religious, educational, and welfare institutions in the Gaza Strip, as much as possible with the involvement and assistance of Arab countries”.
In addition to that, Israel “will act to close UNRWA” and replace it with “other responsible international aid agencies”.
Israel alleged that 12 of the agency's 13,000 Gaza staff took part in the October 7 attacks. More than 16 countries suspended aid to UNRWA because of the allegations.
“This document is a prescription for an endless war, a hideous occupation, and Israel’s ultimate control of the Gaza Strip,” a Palestinian diplomat told The National.
“More importantly, this document is a spit in the face of the international community.”
In his vision, the Israeli PM vowed to “oppose unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state”, saying that “such recognition in the aftermath of the massacre on October 7 would grant an unprecedented reward to terror”.
