Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly prepared to allow Palestinian Authority officials to govern Gaza when the war against Hamas has ended.
Top aides of the Israeli prime minister told the Times of Israel that while he is opposed to the “current PA,” Netanyahu could accept a reformed Ramallah leadership playing a role in running the territory.
That would likely involve the authority better addressing extremism and terrorism in the West Bank, the Israeli newspaper wrote.
One official is reported to have said that Netanyahu’s office believes there is a split between Mahmoud Abbas and lower level employees.
The Palestinian president has yet to condemn the October 7 attack, though he has criticised Hamas’s decision to launch the terror raid.
Netanyahu has reportedly conceded that it will have to hand control over Gaza to individuals with ties to the PA given the absence of workable alternatives.
Two Israeli and one US official told the Times of Israel that "local Palestinians" were required to run the enclave.
“‘Local Palestinians’ is code for PA-affiliated individuals,” an Israeli security official said.
The report comes after repeated public claims from Netanyahu that the PA would play no role in Gaza’s governance the “day after” Israel’s war against Hamas ends.
He declared, “I am not ready to replace Hamas-stan with Fatah-stan,” in reference to the Palestinian party in control of the West Bank, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
“The first condition for the day after [the war in Gaza] is the elimination of Hamas, and this must be done without excuses,” the prime minister added.
Speaking to Channel 14 last week, Netanyahu insisted he was "not prepared to give [Gaza] to the PA".
Instead, he said, we wanted to see the territory governed by a, “civil administration – if possible with local Palestinians and hopefully with support from countries in the region.”
The American government had previously warned that Israel cannot win the Gaza war without an effective “day after” plan.
“In the absence of a plan for the day after, there won’t be a day after,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press conference in May.
Israel should not be in direct control of Gaza after the conflict has ended, he claimed.
“If it is, it will simply have an enduring insurgency on its hands for as far as we can see into the future,” Blinken said.
In the absence of a plan, he added: “Hamas will be left in charge, which is unacceptable.
"Or if not, we’ll have chaos, lawlessness and a vacuum that eventually will be filled again by Hamas or maybe something – if it’s possible to imagine – even worse.”
