Israel's defence minister lays out vision for running Gaza if Hamas is defeated

The debate has intensified around the central question that has underpinned the conflict from the start: what happens when this all ends? ITV News Foreign Correspondent John Ray reports

Israel's defence minister has laid out his vision for the next phase of the war in Gaza, as well as how the territory would be run if Hamas is defeated.

Their campaign in Gaza has killed more than 22,400 people, more than two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after its October 7 attack, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted around 240 others.

On Thursday, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant described how Israeli forces would shift to a scaled-down "new combat approach" in northern Gaza, while continuing to fight Hamas in the south "for as long as necessary".

A document issued by Gallant was titled a “vision for Phase 3” of the war, and his office said the phase had not yet begun.

It also said the ideas were Gallant's and not official policy, which would have to be set by Israel's war and security cabinets.

Gallant, who is a member of both cabinets, may be aiming to put his personal plan before the Americans ahead of others in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, which includes hard-right members likely to want a tougher approach.

So what could Gaza look like, according to Gallant, post-conflict?

Security and rebuild

Israel would keep security control of Gaza, Gallant said, while an undefined, Israeli-guided Palestinian body would run day-to-day administration.

He added the United States and other countries would oversee rebuilding.

The US has recently pressed Israel to shift to lower-intensity military operations in Gaza.

Much of northern Gaza, which troops invaded two months ago, has been flattened beyond recognition.

With the focus now in the south, Israeli forces are battling Hamas militants in the city of Khan Younis and in urban refugee camps in the center of the territory.

Some 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants have been driven from their homes.

Northern Gaza

Gallant's statement underlined the war would go on until Hamas' military and government capabilities are eliminated and the more than 100 hostages still in captivity are returned.

In the north, the statement said, forces will shift to a new approach that includes raids, destruction of tunnels, “air and ground activities and special operations.”

The aim would be “the erosion” of the remaining Hamas presence.

There was no word whether northern Gaza's population, which has almost entirely been driven south, would be allowed to return.

The statement did not clarify how the new approach would differ from current operations, but Gallant has previously said it would be a lower scale.

Israel began last week to withdraw some troops from northern Gaza, where the military says it has largely gained operational control after weeks of heavy fighting with Hamas.

Still, Gallant has said several thousand Hamas fighters remain there.

Southern Gaza

In the south, he said, fighting would continue "as long as is deemed necessary."

After the war, the statement said, Israel will keep security control, taking military action in Gaza when necessary to ensure there are no threats and maintaining inspections of all goods entering the territory.

Gallant said there would be no Israeli civilians in Gaza, ruling out calls by some in Israel's far-right for a return of Jewish settlers to the territory.

Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year presence, therefore ending occupation.

However, Gallant himself recently said after the conflict Israel would "no longer have 'responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip'," which was deemed by some as confirmation that Israel currently maintains a level of control in the territory.

Many humanitarian organisations and prominent global bodies, such as the European Union, the UN General Assembly, the International Committee of the Red Cross and others, argue that Israel has kept requisite control in some ways.

Under Gallant's plans for a future Gaza, Palestinian entities - apparently local civil servants or communal leaders - would run the territory. Israel providing “information to guide civilian operations,” the statement said without elaborating.

The apparent picture of an Israeli-dominated Palestinian administration for Gaza differs starkly from US calls for a revitalised Palestinian Authority to take control of the territory and a start to new negotiations toward creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have rejected that idea.

An apparent Israeli strike that killed a top Hamas leader in Beirut has stirred fresh fears the conflict could expand into other parts of the Middle East.

The killing of Saleh Arouri prompted warnings of retaliation from Hamas’ ally, the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.

But there was no immediate escalation in the daily exchanges of rocket fire and shells between Hezbollah and the Israeli military over the two countries’ border.

Regional tensions climbed as a US airstrike killed an Iranian-backed militia leader in Iraq and as Yemen's Houthi rebels continued attacks on ships in key Red Sea shipping lanes.

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