According to a report in an Israeli newspaper, the Israel Defence Force(IDF) has established a team to investigate Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023; the strike that signaled the start of the war.
The team will be tasked at looking at the attack on Israeli areas bordering Gaza, and the failures that had to come before it to allow for it to happen.
The team will include former Army Chief of staff and Defence Minister, Shaul Mofaz, former Head of military Intelligence Aharon Ze’evi-Farkash and former Head of Southern Command Sami Turjman.
This came as Israeli Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant outlined a new phase in the Gaza war as well as post-war plans.
In his plan for the next stage of the war in Gaza, he described how Israeli forces would change to an apparently scaled-down “new combat approach” in northern Gaza, while continuing to fight Hamas in the south of the territory “for as long as necessary.”
Gallant’s statement said that in the north Israeli forces would shift to a new approach that included raids, destruction of tunnels, “air and ground activities and special operations”.
The aim would be “the erosion” of the remaining Hamas presence.
Gallant also outlined his plan for how Gaza would be run once Hamas has been defeated.
Under the plan, Israel’s war in the territory would continue until it had secured the return of the hostages taken on October 7, dismantled Hamas’s “military and governing capabilities” and removed any remaining military threats.
After that, the outline says, a new phase would begin during which “Hamas will not control Gaza and will not pose a security threat to the citizens of Israel”, with unspecified Palestinian bodies assuming the territory’s governance.
Israel would reserve its right to operate inside the territory, the plan stated, but there would be “no Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip after the goals of the war have been achieved.”
The document issued by Gallant was titled a “vision for Phase 3” of the war.
It also said the ideas were Gallant’s and not official policy, which would have to be set by Israel’s war and security cabinets.
At present, in the central Gaza Strip, Israel’s aerial bombardment campaign is continuing intensely.
There, al-Maghazi refugee camp has been completely encircled and heavily bombed.
Anything that can help people survive is also being targeted. This includes schools and health facilities. The vast majority of UNRWA schools have been destroyed.
People are frustrated because the U.S, on one hand, supports building these schools but then funds the bombs that are destroying them.
Meanwhile, a top Biden aide defended UNRWA work in Gaza but reiterated a claim that Hamas uses hospitals as command centres.
Families Of Captives Protest In front Of Israeli Minister’s House
Also on Friday, families of people held captive in Gaza protested outside the home of Benny Gantz, an Israeli Minister.
They demanded that Gantz and the war cabinet save their loved ones by any means, “even if it means stopping the fighting.”
“The lives of our relatives are in daily danger, and the Israeli government has the commitment and ability to save them, before it is too late and there is no one left to save,” they said in a statement.
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