Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a session in Parliament in Jerusalem on March 20. Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images
Differences between Israeli ministers over the plan for the war-ravaged Gaza Strip after the end of the conflict have deepened.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich criticized the plan presented on Thursday by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, which envisages a Gaza Strip no longer controlled by Hamas that would no longer pose a “security threat to the citizens of Israel.”
But the right-wing extremist settler leader Smotrich rejected his colleague's plan.
“Gallant's plan for 'The Day After' is a repeat of 'The Day Before' on October 7th,” Smotrich wrote on Facebook. “The solution in Gaza requires thinking outside the box and changing the approach by promoting voluntary migration and full security control, including settlement renewal.”
Smotrich has championed the idea of a Palestinian exodus from Gaza. He and far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sparked outrage when they advocated for the resettlement of Gazans outside the Gaza Strip.
Removing Gazans from the territory could pave the way for Israelis to “make the desert bloom” through resettlement, Smotrich argued, later adding that he envisions the relocation of Gazans to be on a voluntary basis would.
United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said Thursday he was “very disturbed” by previous statements by Smotrich and Ben Gvir advocating for relocation.
Gallant's plan: Gallant, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's center-right Likud party, said in a section of the three-page document titled “Day After” that there would be “no” once the “goals” of the war were “achieved.” “There is an Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip.” This appears to rule out the restoration of Israeli settlements in Gaza, which Israel unilaterally removed in 2005.
Gallant also introduced the concept of a multinational task force led by the United States, working with “European and regional partners,” tasked with “rehabilitating the Gaza Strip.”
This task force would serve as a “primary address for international parties interested in helping to restore the Gaza Strip,” he said. During this phase, Israel would also continue dialogue with Egypt, a country that Gallant described as a “key player.”
However, the minister offered little specifics about the enclave's future government, saying only that the “unit controlling the territory” would “build on the capabilities” of the “local, non-hostile actors” already present in Gaza.