Israel declared war against Hamas after the terrorist group launched a sneak attack on October 7. Since the war started, at least 5,600 lives have been lost, including 1,400 Israeli civilians and soldiers and 32 Americans, along with as many as 250 civilians held hostage, including young children.
As a result of this unprecedented attack, which many call Israel’s 9/11, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to defeat Hamas and “wipe them off the face of the Earth.” So what happens when Hamas is destroyed? Well, on Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant outlined a three-phase plan for the ongoing war with Hamas, which also details what will happen in Gaza once Hamas is destroyed.
According to Gallant, it is not Israel’s goal to control life in the Gaza Strip, but there will be a new “security reality” there. He detailed Israel’s objectives at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in Tel Aviv.
“We are in the first phase, in which a military campaign is taking place with [airstrikes] and later with a [ground] maneuver with the purpose of destroying operatives and damaging infrastructure in order to defeat and destroy Hamas,” Gallant said.
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The next phase will be a lower-intensity fight aimed at eliminating “pockets of resistance.”
“The third step will be the creation of a new security regime in the Gaza Strip, the removal of Israel’s responsibility for day-to-day life in the Gaza Strip, and the creation of a new security reality for the citizens of Israel and the residents of the [area surrounding Gaza],” he said.
“Recent days have seen growing pressure on the government to devise a clear strategy for how it plans to avoid getting bogged down in a lengthy reoccupation of the Strip while ensuring the Palestinian enclave is no longer managed by the Hamas terror group and no longer poses a threat,” reports the Times of Israel. “National Unity party leader Benny Gantz and fellow party member Gadi Eisenkot, who entered the coalition last week to form an emergency wartime cabinet, have demanded the creation of a Gaza exit strategy and have tasked a committee with drawing one up, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel earlier this week.”
Joe Biden announced this week that $100 million would be sent to Gaza and the West Bank, allegedly for humanitarian purposes, though critics have pointed out that it’s impossible to trust Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, to dedicate those funds for humanitarian purposes.
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