Israel will maintain military control of the Gaza Strip after the war is over, giving it freedom to operate similarly to the way it currently does in the West Bank, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant tells the members of Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
“After the war, when it’s over, I think it’s completely clear that Hamas won’t control Gaza. Israel will control [it] militarily but won’t control it in a civilian sense,” Gallant says at a briefing at his office in Tel Aviv.
“When we’re talking about military freedom of operation, look what happened tonight in Jenin,” Gallant adds, referring to the daring counterterror operation inside a hospital in the West Bank city, where forces killed three operatives allegedly planning a major attack inspired by Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.
“This is military freedom of operation at the highest level, and yet we don’t control the area in a civilian sense,” Gallant says. “This is achievable [in Gaza as well], and it will take time.”
He also says that the current work to expose and destroy Hamas’s existing military infrastructure “is finite” and is moving forward despite significant challenges.
Gallant contends that a condition for achieving Israel’s war goals — eliminating Hamas’s military and leadership abilities, and returning all the hostages — is “unity on the national level.”
