Israel poised to establish military governance in Gaza amid aid distribution crisis
Israel is very close to implementing a military government in the Gaza Strip, according to sources in the Israel Defence Forces.
Israeli soldiers patrol the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza. The corridor divides the Strip, preventing terrorists from crossing between Gaza’s northern and southern areas. Photo by TPS-IL
Military sources tell The Press Service of Israel that in the absence of Arab partners agreeing to take a role in administering post-war Gaza, the situation requires the establishment of an executive mechanism under a new officer to at least distribute aid. But aid distribution would likely be the first step in the establishment of a military government.
“There is no one else who can do the job, the current situation does not serve the Israeli interest, we must take upon ourselves the distribution of aid,” a senior Israeli security source told TPS-IL. He explained that the prevailing view in the security establishment opposes the concept of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordering the IDF to prepare for the distribution of aid. However, there are no alternatives and nobody wants to risk allowing Hamas to seize control of the aid.
IDF Brig.-Gen. Elad Goren, who works in the Defence Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories unit (COGAT), was appointed liaison for humanitarian activities in the Gaza Strip on Aug. 28. The IDF said that the position was created by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s authorization.
Palestinians, particularly Hamas, refer to Goren as the Hachem, an Arab word for governor, though the context is pejorative.
Since the war in the Gaza Strip began, Israel has transferred enormous amounts of aid to the Gaza Strip. Over 42,000 trucks entered Gaza with Israeli approval, carrying more than 800,000 thousand tons of aid — including 600,000 tons of food and 26,000 tons of medical items. In May alone, Israel also brought two million litres of fuel to Gaza.
This huge amount of food, medicine and other items, may soon be distributed by an Israeli military governor. One security official told TPS-IL he would not rule out cooperation with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), “because there is no one to do this work and winter is approaching.”
That would be a significant Israeli pivot. Israeli officials have demanded that UNRWA, which supports Palestinian refugees be stripped of its authority in Gaza and defunded amid revelations that members of the agency’s staff participated in Hamas’s October 7 attacks. Israel has bypassed UNRWA in distributing aid and the Knesset is advancing legislation designating the agency as a “terror organization,” stripping away its diplomatic immunity, tax-exempt status, and other legal benefits.
Security sources stress that there is logic to maintaining control over food distribution. Hamas is trying to re-establish its power by controlling aid distribution through criminal gangs. And Hamas operatives continue looting aid trucks, though that phenomenon has weakened as Israel tightens its control over the Philadelphi corridor, a strip of land along the 14 km Gaza-Egypt border.
Palestinian “security committees” or clans try to control the trucks on behalf of Hamas, and more than 80 have been eliminated in Israeli airstrikes. Although aid flows into Gaza from all over the world, much of it still falls into Hamas hands.
That leaves Israeli security officials insisting, “an executive branch must be established that will allow Goren to fundamentally change the situation.”
