Israel Announced Plan For Gaza For The First Time Since The Start Of The War

Palestinians to be able to manage civil affairs with the help of a "global task force", without Israeli settlement activities, but under continued military control.

Such a plan was presented by Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, quoted by Israeli and international media. The proposal may not be final: tensions at the cabinet meeting where it was discussed led to heavy wrangling over the reaction of far-right coalition partners.

The plan announced by Gallant also calls for the reconstruction of Gaza to be led by the United States, Egypt and "moderate" Arab states (by this term Israel refers to countries such as the United Arab Emirates and sometimes Saudi Arabia).

Until now, no high-ranking Israeli official had laid out such a vision. This comes ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's fourth visit to the region since October, which includes Israel, the West Bank, Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Ahead of Blinken's visit, Israel also confirmed it was moving into a new phase in the war, with a reduced military presence in the north and more targeted attacks on fighters and leaders. In the north, there will still be raids, operations against tunnels, and airstrikes will continue, which, according to the health authorities in Gaza, have caused the death of thousands of civilians, but according to Israel, they have also killed many fighters.

Meanwhile, diplomacy to contain regional risks has been joined by the European Union: the bloc's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, is going to the Lebanese border, where a US representative has already been sent and where shelling has escalated in the days before the killing in Beirut of Hamas's second-in-command, Saleh al...