The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office has denied the validity of an Israeli media report regarding a secret document outlining Israel’s requirements for how the Gaza Strip should be managed post-Hamas.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Tuesday that the document, put together at the behest of Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and delivered to Israel’s National Security Council, breaks down Israel’s guidelines for security and civilian control of Gaza after Hamas is defeated.
However, according to a PMO statement on Tuesday, “The report is not true. Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu is the one who leads on policy, which states that in the Gaza Strip, after the elimination of Hamas, no party that educates for terrorism, finances terrorism and pays the families of terrorists will rule.”
According to Channel 12, the document calls for full freedom of action for the Israel Defense Forces, the prevention of intensification and enforcement of full demobilization, creating buffer zones and a mechanism to prevent smuggling. Israel is to control of the Philadelphia Corridor, the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, and the Rafah crossing.
The plan also details long-term processes to fundamentally change Palestinian study programs, as well as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East’s (UNRWA) role in the Gaza Strip.
It also calls for an international mechanism for the provision of humanitarian services, with day-to-day life in Gaza to be managed with support of key countries, international bodies already operating in the Strip and local entities that don’t identify with Hamas.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman had no comment on the Channel 12 report.
