The statement of the Israeli Prime Minister B. Netanyahu for the next day at Gauze and in particular that Israel will indefinitely assume the general responsibility for security in Gaza after the war, caused a series of discussions and reactions, since until recently Tel Aviv did not seem to have the intention of its army remaining in the area.
Immediately after October 7th where her terrorist operation took place Hamasit became clear from statements by Israeli officials that the objective of the military operation will be the complete extermination of the organization.
No mention had been made of the army staying in Gaza either for occupation reasons or for security reasons. The American side declares its opposition to such a scenario, while the Arab world, although it has shown tolerance to the military operation, also declares its opposition to such a possibility of the Israeli army remaining in Gaza.
So far, various scenarios have been mentioned for the next day in Gaza and provided of course the complete annihilation of Hamas. One of them, it is in the responsibility of the security of the region that Israel undertakes in implementation of a model which is applied to West Bank.
The question in this case is, of course, after the extermination of the terrorist organization, the existence in Gaza of an Authority which will have the intention to cooperate with Tel Aviv. Another and much-discussed scenario is that of the development of a multinational force under the responsibility of other neighboring Arab countries, such as Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, etc., with an active role of the UN regarding supervision.
At the same time, Ankara’s intention to assume the role of a guarantor force together with other Muslim countries in the region with which Turkish diplomacy has been in contact using the Organization of Islamic Cooperation should also be mentioned. This scenario should be considered the weakest, as Israel now considers Ankara a red flag and can only be considered wishful thinking by Turkey.
The reasons why the Israeli Prime Minister made this statement cannot be ruled out as a tactical maneuver and is probably attributed to a number of reasons such as testing foreign reactions, the manifestation of Tel Aviv’s opposition to the scenarios of taking over the security of Gaza by a multinational force , boosting the morale of the people and reducing criticism of Netanyahu himself, since implicitly but clearly this statement emphasizes the government’s firm belief that it will not only completely destroy Hamas, but also has a plan for the day after which will provide security guarantee in the territory of Israel.
However, it is possible that the Israeli Prime Minister raised the issue in its extreme form in order to accept another, more moderate option, which may result from the interpretation of Netanyahu’s statement. It is likely that Tel Aviv is considering creating an extended security zone within Gaza, which would extend on the western side along the wall area. This safe zone would also include much of northern Gaza, which has been the center of Hamas’ operational power.
The Israeli side has realized that the wall not only did not provide security, but also had a negative dimension since the security it provided was virtual, as demonstrated by the October 7 terrorist attack. This zone will be monitored by ground and aerial means of surveillance of the Israeli Armed Forces and will remove any possibility of the re-establishment of a new terrorist organization that will threaten Israel’s security.
*Lieutenant General e.a. Lazaros Kambouridis is a graduate of the School of National Defense, holds an MBA from Nottingham Trend University, a graduate of the Department of History & Ethnology of the Greek University of Athens, and a PhD candidate at Panteion University, while he was a member of the Greek Diplomatic Mission in Istanbul in the period 1995-1999, Defense Attaché at the Greek Embassy in Ankara/parallel accreditation in Baku in the period 2013-2017. He is a fellow of the American Institute for Analysis, “Defense & Foreign Affairs”. Demobilized in March / 2022.
