Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that Israel will have security control over Gaza with full freedom to operate in the Strip, after defeating Hamas in the enclave.
"We will not allow any terrorists to organize and attack Israeli communities and citizens from Gaza," Katz said. "We will not allow the return to the reality of before the Oct. 7 massacre."
One of the central questions still undetermined for the day after the war remains whether the IDF would allow the tens of thousands of displaced Gazans to return to the area of Jebaliy which has been mostly destroyed in the fighting, or whether they would be prevented from returning, a millions of displaced Gazans who have moved south, have been.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz in Gaza
(Photo: GPO)
The military said that the northern third of the Strip would be cut off and remain mainly unpopulated, according to the decision of the government.
Ynet has learned that the IDF's Southern Command intends to leave infrastructure established in recent months, in Gaza that would spread from the border with Israel all the way to the Mediterranean cost. The purpose if to prevent the return of civilians to areas that are close to the Israeli border communities.
IDF operates in Gaza
(IDF)
If that scenario plays out, it would mean that Israel had adopted the so called "Generals' Plan" calling for the area or northern Gaza to remain unpopulated and under IDF security control to prevent the ability of Hamas to rehabilitate itself as a ruling force.
According to the authors of the plan, Hamas can only enforce its rule if it can control the civilian population, primarily by the provision of humanitarian aid. If there is no alternative to Hamas as a governing body, it will once again survive. Israel has thus far refused to allow the Palestinian Authority to take over civilian governance of t
he Strip, leaving the IDF military control the only option to ensure security along the border.
The military estimates there are still some 100 Hamas terrorists in the Jabaliya and surrounding areas of northern Gaza. Israel also believes there will be a few civilians who will remain there, mostly under the protection of humanitarian zones. "After we bomb and area, our troops enter to find a building that was unharmed with some 20 women and children inside," an IDF commander said.