On Monday, Israel offered a 45-day ceasefire if it releases half of the remaining hostages held in Gaza, which the United Nations said is now in the grip of its worst humanitarian crisis since the start of the war.
“The proposal includes the disarmament of Hamas and all Palestinian armed factions in the Gaza Strip as a condition for a permanent end to the war,” a Hamas official said.
For its part, Hamas informed the mediators that it is willing to agree to any proposal that includes a permanent ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the entry of aid,” the official said.
However, the Israeli Army’s moves in and around Rafah to create a buffer zone in the southern Gaza Strip have continued unabated and dominated the headlines, especially after Israel completed the Morag Corridor, in cooperation with the 188th and Golani brigades, and succeeded in barricading Rafah after the 36th Division’s siege of the city.
It appears that Israel’s strategy involved targeting Hamas infrastructure in Rafah before completing work on the Morag Corridor, which separates Rafah from Khan Younis. Israel has stated that its principal objective is to escalate the pressure on Hamas, obstruct movement between the two areas, and fully control the entry of humanitarian aid into the southern Gaza Strip, particularly after the destruction of Rafah, which comprises one-fifth of the total area of the Strip.
Israel’s control of the Morag, Philadelphi, and Netzarim corridors indicates that its forces intend to stay for a long time in the Strip. It has gained control of approximately 30 per cent of the coastal area and has hinted that it will move to expand its control over 50 per cent of the Strip should Hamas remain “intransigent” in negotiations, particularly over the number of hostages to be released.
Israel has opted to defer discussion on the group’s disarmament and the exit of its leadership from the besieged enclave.
At the same time, Israel has intensified its grip over the northern parts of the Strip, from which Hamas forces have been expelled. A security buffer has been established to serve the needs of adjacent Israeli border communities.
The consolidation of Israeli control over large portions of the Gaza Strip, which is among the most densely populated areas in the world, has forced the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people into increasingly confined zones lacking infrastructure and aid.
This will likely have the results of increasing tensions between the civilian population and Hamas and causing the displaced people to desire to flee the Strip.
While Israel seeks to erode Hamas’ authority by undermining civilian control over the Gaza Strip, it is avoiding assuming responsibility for the administration of the enclave. It limits its power to regulating the flow of humanitarian aid, an operation it deems to be of a military character.
In terms of broader civil governance, Tel Aviv wants to delegate this burden to local Gaza clans. However, the initiative remains theoretical mainly, as despite their rejection of the rule of Hamas, these clans do not want to take on the governance of the Strip under Israeli occupation, mindful of the stigma that such a role would entail.
Meanwhile, Israel has managed to exert maximum pressure on Hamas by fragmenting the Gaza Strip into isolated zones, severing their connections and cutting off the southern sector, including Rafah, from the rest of the Strip.
It has disrupted the movement’s logistical lifelines by targeting resistance hubs and cutting off aid flows, while fostering internal dissent against it. This has left Hamas’ remaining leadership with limited options, steering it towards a deal that resembles an instrument of surrender.
On the domestic front, this strategy has enabled Israel to bolster its ruling far-right Coalition Government, offering it multiple lifelines not only through the resumption of the war on Gaza but also through the return to settlements in Gaza evacuated during the 2005 disengagement, notably those in the Gush Katif bloc.
The ultimate objective of Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip appears to align with a broader strategy aimed at imposing long-term control of the Strip, thereby facilitating its Judaisation and the systematic erasure of its Arab identity.
This mirrors Israel’s Judaisation efforts in Jerusalem and seeks to thwart any prospect of establishing a Palestinian state, especially when viewed in conjunction with Israeli plans to annexe the West Bank.
Coinciding with the Jewish holiday season, Israel has increased its troop deployments across the West Bank. This suggests that Israel is exploiting the situation to accelerate the annexation plans it has been preparing for years, whether through expansive military operations, the largest since 2002, or legislative measures in the Knesset aimed at legitimising such actions.
These include referring to the West Bank by its biblical name and the de facto annexation of certain settlements in East Jerusalem in blatant violation of international law. Alongside these measures, Israel is intensifying its grip by installing additional gates at the entrances of Palestinian towns and cities and dispatching six brigades to the West Bank on the eve of the Passover holiday.
The Israeli measures in the West Bank should be seen as an extension of military campaigns such as “Summer Camps” and “Iron Wall.” The latter, launched in January, has targeted Palestinian refugee camps to dismantle population centres, obstructing the return of displaced residents, and preventing the rehabilitation of damaged homes.
The aim is to establish a permanent Israeli military presence even in areas under Palestinian Authority (PA) control.
Israel is working to weaken the grip of the PA on West Bank areas under its administration by attempting to make civilians deal directly with the Israeli military instead of with PA offices.
It is also attempting to dissuade West Bank residents from supporting the armed resistance, particularly by destroying their homes due to the presence of armed factions in the refugee camps.
The moves come at a time when the PA seems to be at its weakest. Israel’s actions in the West Bank suggest that it views the security operation launched by PA forces in the Jenin Refugee Camp as ineffective. It says that the longstanding influx of weapons into the West Bank is something that the PA has failed to manage, despite acknowledging its security dominance over large parts of the West Bank.
Following the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023, Israel appears to be intent on shifting the blame for unregulated weapons in Gaza and the West Bank onto other parties to facilitate and legitimise its security policies, including the creation of buffer zones and the occupation of additional areas, just as it is doing in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s movements in the Gaza Strip are closely tied to the backing it has received from the Trump administration and the US, even before the return of US President Donald Trump to the White House.
Trump’s statement that Israel “looks small on the map” compared to its neighbours is the basis on which Israel is building its security rhetoric and carrying out operations in Gaza, the West Bank, southern Syria, and Lebanon.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 17 April, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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