In Post-Conflict Gaza, Palestinians Will Handle Civilian Affairs

Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, has said that local Palestinians will run civilian affairs in the Gaza Strip while Israel will maintain security control of the coastal enclave after the current conflict comes to an end.

On Thursday, January 4, Gallant outlined the vision of post-conflict Gaza Strip in his daily press briefing. He said that “there will be no Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip after the goals of the war are achieved”, Xinhua news agency reported.

He added, “Gaza residents are Palestinian, therefore Palestinian bodies will be in charge on the condition that there will be no hostility to Israel.”

On the question of who will oversee the security of Gaza after the conflict, the minister vowed that Israel will not permit Hamas to rule Gaza of endanger the safety of its people. Therefore, Israel will reserve the operational freedom of action in Gaza.

Gallant said further that Israel is going to move into — what he referred as — Phase III of the conflict. This would include raids, destruction of “terror” tunnels, aerial and ground activities and special operations.

The Israeli Government Press Office, later in the evening, issued a statement outlining the combat objective of Phase III of Israeli military operations in Gaza: the erosion of remaining “terror” hotspots in the area.

According to the statement, “In the southern region of the Gaza Strip, operational efforts’ focus on eliminating Hamas leadership and enabling the return of the hostages will continue for as long as is deemed necessary.”

An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place chiefly in and around the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, with clashes also taking place in the West Bank and on the Israel–Lebanon border. On that day, militant groups launched a surprise attack on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, marking the start of the most significant military escalation in the region since the Yom Kippur War exactly fifty years prior.

After clearing Hamas militants from its territory, the Israeli military embarked on an extensive aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip followed by a large-scale ground invasion. The current hostilities constitute the fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict, which is part of the broader Israeli–Palestinian conflict and Iran–Israel proxy conflict.

The war began when Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups targeted Israel in an operation they called “Al-Aqsa Flood” with a barrage of rockets, while around 3,000 militants breached the Gaza–Israel barrier and attacked neighboring Israeli communities and military bases. 1,139 people—695 Israeli civilians, 373 soldiers and 71 foreigners—were killed, including an unknown number from friendly fire.

Hamas said its attack was in response to “desecration” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as the growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and recent violence and clashes there, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, and the plight of Palestinian refugees and prisoners, the latter of whom it sought to free by taking an estimated 253 Israeli and foreign captives into Gaza as leverage. In response, Israel tightened its blockade, ordered the evacuation of the northern Gaza Strip, and fired over 29,000 munitions at targets in Gaza before and during its ground offensive, with the stated goal of dismantling Hamas’s “military and governance capabilities”, freeing the hostages, and establishing security control over Gaza.