The Israeli government exposed its contradictions in broad daylight and finally discussed in Gaza on Thursday, January 4th, the “day after,” without deciding anything on the future government of the enclave, as the most active phases of the Gaza elections since October 7th ongoing war took place. 2023 will be completed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made this topic taboo. He recently removed it from the agenda of several cabinet meetings under pressure from his ministers on the religious far right. Frustrated at being excluded from directing military operations from the first days, they again defended on Thursday an ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian enclave and its re-colonization after the Israeli withdrawal in 2005.
Mr Netanyahu was forced to return and hold this meeting ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who began a new tour of the Middle East on Friday. Washington is calling on its ally to limit the colossal civilian losses in Gaza: according to the local health ministry, there are more than 22,000 dead and 7,000 missing, most of them minors. The American government also wants Israel to give way to a “renewed” Palestinian Authority after the war and for the Jewish state to enter into long-term peace negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization, the internationally recognized organization.
The army itself must clarify its goals in order to reduce the number of its ground troops; a relocation expected in January has already been discreetly announced. It wants to keep its reservists for a long war that costs the state around 100 million euros a day and prepare for a possible continuation of the war in the north of the country against the Lebanese Hezbollah.
A hypothetical “multinational force”
Even before the ministerial meeting, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant expressed his ambitions, which are still far from defining a government line. In doing so, he anticipated the debate in the so-called “Security Cabinet,” which brings together all ministers directly or indirectly affected by the war and whose heated controversies are systematically leaked to the press. Mr. Gallant intends to give the army complete freedom of action in Gaza, but he does not want the state to organize and protect a settler return. “Once the war objectives are achieved, there will no longer be an Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip,” he said. Israel will not be responsible for civilian life in Gaza. »
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