Nations Clamor To Assist Deluged Gaza but a Reconstituted Hamas Raises Few Objections

A weekend worth of torrential rains over Gaza brings to focus a lack of progress there. Pressure on Israel to make concessions in the enclave is likely to follow even as Hamas is quietly rearming and tightening its grip on the population in violation of ceasefire agreements . A sand embankment near a central Gaza encampment collapsed on Sunday over tents that shelter tens of thousands homeless Gazans. A mother and her two children were killed in the incident. Another infant died when he was swept away in the flood. Autumn rains exacted deaths across the Mideast, including in Iraq’s Kurdistan, where a small number of Erbil residents died over the weekend. Yet it was the Gaza situation that prompted global action.Britain is organizing an appeal, to be signed by at least 50 countries, calling on Israel to ease restrictions on aid deliveries, expand humanitarian access, and allow journalists and diplomatic delegations into the territory. “The Labour government seems to have forgotten that Hamas even exists,” Israel’s ambassador at the United Nations, Danny Danon, said in a statement. “Instead of issuing yet another list of demands directed at Israel, it is time to demand the disarmament of Hamas and prevent the terrorist organization from ever returning to power in Gaza.”Israel could agree, perhaps, to humanitarian solutions such as prefabricated fiberglass houses to replace tents in Gaza, sources say. Such temporary housing is widely used in Syria and other countries in the region where homes were destroyed by war. A more permanent solution, though, could prove elusive. President Trump, in a phone call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend, said that now that the Israeli election is over, Jerusalem must kickstart Gaza reconstruction plans, Axios reports. “We have no problem with Trump’s plan,” a former close adviser to Mr. Netanyahu and an ambassador to London, Mark Regev, tells The New York Sun. “We have a problem with Hamas. As long as Hamas refuses to disarm, no progress can be made.” Even before movement on Hamas’s disarmament, though, Washington and Jerusalem agreed to deploy a 250-troop multinational force into Gaza. The force would be sent to guard a pilot program at Rafah, near the strip’s border with Egypt, where a planned “terror-free Emirati city” is to be built. The Emirati Initiative The “terror-free” zone was a brainchild of a former Palestinian Authority Gaza commander, Mohammed Dahlan, who fled the strip after the Hamas takeover in 2006. Now residing at Abu Dhabi, Mr. Dahlan is a close adviser to President Mohamed bin Zaid of the United Arab Emirates. From the UAE, Mr. Dahlan has maintained tight connections with prominent Gazans. Building a city at a Rafah neighborhood currently under Israeli control, Tel el-Sultan, could become a blueprint for reconstruction of the entire strip. Yet the metropolis would be surrounded by hostile forces, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as their opponents from various Gaza clans in the area. Installing a multinational force to defend the proposed city has widespread support but may be impracticable, the founder of Middle East Media Research Institute, Yigal Carmon, tells the Sun. “This situation, in which a multinational force would likely need American troops to protect it, and which in turn would need IDF protection, seems to me unsustainable,” Mr. Carmon says. Multinational ForceIn Mr. Trump’s vision, once the IDF withdraws from most of Gaza, a force composed of several willing countries would take over control of the strip. Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Uganda, and Albania have agreed to participate.Another country, Turkey, is eager to participate, but Jerusalem refuses, due to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increased hostility and support of terrorism. Hamas operatives residing at Istanbul were intimately involved in planning a recent attack at Hebron, according to Walla news.Turkey’s presence in Gaza will not be acceptable to Israel “as long as it, at least, refuses to recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization,” Mr. Regev says.Flexibility on Gaza Within Israel’s Next Government Israel’s October 27 election was inconclusive. On Sunday President Isaac Herzog gave former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot a mandate to gather a supporting majority in the 120-member Knesset, after which he can become the prime minister. If Mr. Eisenkot fails to gather a majority after four weeks and two-week extension, Mr. Netanyahu will get to try his luck. Whoever is the next leader, though, it is hard to see much progress in reconstructing Gaza before Hamas is disarmed. Disarmament is part of Mr. Trump’s vision for Gaza. On the eve of last month’s election Mr. Eisenkot vowed that 18 months after he became prime minister, Hamas will disarm “either according to the Trump plan, which was accepted by the Netanyahu government, or by military action.”After the election, Mr. Eisenkot reiterated four principles that would-be partners must accept before joining his government, including “recognizing Hamas as a terror organization and ending its military and governance powers.” That condition could prevent a coalition with Arab parties that are yet to agree to it. Disarming Hamas, But How?Under the ceasefire agreement Israel remains in control of nearly 70 percent of Gaza territory. The IDF almost daily announces the killing of terrorists who had participated in the October 7, 2023, massacre that launched the war. “Hamas isn’t shooting back because they don’t want to reignite a full-on war,” Mr. Carmon says. Hamas, though, is unlikely to disarm on its own. “They want the relative calm to continue, so they can rearm,” Mr. Regev says. Washington should apply pressure on Ankara and Doha rather than on Jerusalem, he adds. After all, he notes, Hamas only agreed to release all the hostages only when Turkey and Qatar told them to do so. Mr. Trump could indicate he would green-light Israeli military operations if Hamas remained armed, and at the same time pressure Turkey and Qatar to lean on their allied terror group, according to Mr. Regev, who adds, “Hamas must believe that if it refuses to disarm it would have an issue both with Israel and with its best friends.”

Nations Clamor To Assist Deluged Gaza but a Reconstituted Hamas Raises Few Objections

Nations Clamor To Assist Deluged Gaza but a Reconstituted Hamas Raises Few Objections

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