Netanyahu's plan for the future of Gaza calls for closing UNRWA and ruling out a Palestinian state

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has detailed for the first time what he has in mind for the future of Gaza in the shadow of the current war situation.

According to a plan presented on Thursday night, called

The Day After Hamas

, the Israeli Government intends to give a new twist to the Strip and maintain absolute control from now on.

In the process, also tighten the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

In practice, it is even a question of having the right to veto the possible approval of a Palestinian State in the future.

Netanyahu, for whom the reconstruction of Gaza does not appear as a priority, rules out that he will allow the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), the main support of the majority of the 2, to continue carrying out its work in the Strip. 3 million Palestinians who inhabit that territory, more than half displaced by the war.

The Israeli prime minister's project has already received rejection from the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

The plan, to which EL PAÍS has had access, has three phases – short, medium and long term – and was delivered to the war cabinet.

It is clear that the prime minister wants the war conflict that opened on October 7 to serve as an excuse to end up having everything tied up: politics, institutions, weapons, security forces, borders, reconstruction, trade and even which countries will act in the fringe.

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Latest news on the war between Israel and Gaza

Firstly, Netanyahu's document outlines the Israeli strategy in the most immediate term.

It is about achieving the objectives set to win the current armed conflict, which are, basically, to make Hamas and the Islamic Jihad disappear on a political and military level, bring back the hostages and eliminate any threat that may come from the Strip.

The document extends more in the medium term, when it plans to address aspects at the level of security and civil life.

On the one hand, Netanyahu foresees that Israel maintains “unlimited freedom of action throughout the Gaza Strip without a time limit,” with the aim of stopping the re-flowering of “terrorism.”

In this context, he will also impose the closure of the southern border with Egypt to control people and goods, both on the surface and underground, where tunnels have been dug for years.

Israel hopes to have the collaboration of Egypt and the United States.

demilitarized zone

The prime minister wants to keep the entire area on the west bank of the Jordan River—including Gaza—under Israeli control by land, sea and air;

that is, all of Palestine, within that strategy that he describes as the fight against terrorism.

Gaza will be completely demilitarized, except as necessary to maintain public order, and Israel will be in charge of carrying out this process and supervising it.

Also among the aspects that it foresees in this medium term, the document states that civil administration and internal order will fall into the hands of people with experience, but who are outside the orbit of what Israel considers terrorism both locally and internationally.

They will also not be able to receive salaries from these entities or countries, although none are mentioned.

There is no express refusal in the document for Palestinian National Authority (PNA) officials to be part of that process, something that Netanyahu had raised at the beginning of the war.

In parallel, a “deradicalization” plan will be promoted in Gaza at the religious, educational and charitable levels.

Israel will also carry out the necessary efforts to “shut down” UNRWA, some of whose employees participated in the October 7 “massacre” and in whose schools terrorism is “taught.”

The idea is to replace the UN agency with other international organizations.

Both the deradicalization process and the reconstruction of Gaza will be carried out by countries to which Israel must give approval.

In the long term, Israel “totally rejects international dictates” about a permanent status agreement with the Palestinians.

Such an understanding, the text adds, will only be possible through direct negotiations between the parties and without preconditions.

Finally, the plan makes clear that Israel will continue to oppose unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.

The ANP believes that the proposal proposed by Netanyahu is doomed to “failure,” according to a statement from Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesperson for the president, Mahmoud Abbas.

“If the world is truly interested in having security and stability in the region, it must end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and recognize an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Abu Rudeina said.

From the first stages of the war, when it was confirmed that Israel had decided to raze Gaza, the question of the future of the Palestinian enclave on the shores of the Mediterranean was put on the table.

The three-phase plan has been being handled behind the scenes ever since, with a first stage of total war, a transition period and, finally, what Israel wants to think will be post-Hamas Gaza.

But the document presented on Thursday includes for the first time details directly designed by the prime minister.

Netanyahu has put that strategy on the table for the day after the war at a time when his role is highly in question.

This Saturday Tel Aviv will once again be the scene of demonstrations in which the prime minister will have to listen, as every week, to reproaches - and more off-color words - from the families of the 134 hostages remaining in Gaza, of whom They pressure for elections to be held and the pacifists who defend an end to the war and the recognition of the Palestinian State.

On the other hand, internal pressure within the Government comes, above all, from the most radical wing, represented by ultra-nationalist ministers who even criticize that Israel negotiates with the Palestinian Islamists an agreement to return the kidnapped people home.

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