Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has unveiled his most detailed plans yet for the future of Gaza. However, there is a problem: The plans are both wildly out of step with what the US wants and would generate significant opposition within Gaza and worldwide.
Netanyahu has been under increasing pressure to develop a long-term plan for Gaza as Israel’s military operations in the region approach their sixth month. In response to Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel and its taking of roughly 250 hostages, the Israeli military campaign has destroyed large swaths of Gaza and has killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians, according to the latest figures from the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel is reportedly contemplating an escalation of hostilities with an attack on the southern city of Rafah, now home to more than 1 million internally displaced Palestinian refugees.
Netanyahu reportedly told members of Israel’s security cabinet Thursday night that, after eliminating Hamas — the Israeli government’s stated, likely impossible goal in its war on Gaza — he wants to completely demilitarize Gaza, close its border with Egypt (which Egypt currently administers), and exert “security control over the entire area west of Jordan,” including Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
CNN reported that the plan also calls for cutting off funding to Gaza from Qatar (which has previously sent Gaza as much as $360 million per year to fund its Hamas-controlled government with Israel’s endorsement) and for Israel to preside over a “de-radicalization” of the Palestinian education system, which Netanyahu has accused of spreading antisemitism. And Netanyahu said that Israel should reject “international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians” in defiance of US President Joe Biden’s calls for a two-state solution.
Netanyahu might not survive as prime minister long enough to see this plan implemented, given increasing Israeli calls for a change in…
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