According to the Wall Street Journal, some Israeli and US officials are discussing the idea of ”pulling thousands of Hamas fighters out of the Palestinian territories as a way to de-escalate the war.”
The prospect comes as part of a development in Israeli and US talks about who will run Gaza when the war ends and what can be done to ensure the area is not used to launch another attack on Israel like the one on October 7.
One such proposal for how to manage a post-Hamas Gaza, drawn up by an Israeli military think tank and seen by the Wall Street Journal, would start by creating so-called “Hamas-free safe zones.”
As a temporary cease-fire that began on Friday continues, there is still no consensus on fundamental issues that could end the war, nor agreement between Israel, the United States and Arab states on who will run or supply Gaza. Daily security for two million people. They live there.
One option being discussed by Israel and the United States is to force “low-level” Hamas fighters to leave the Gaza Strip to prevent the movement from regaining power.
Before the war began, Israel estimated that Hamas had about 30,000 fighters in the Gaza Strip, and after the war vowed to kill senior Hamas leaders and members involved in the October 7 attacks.
Beirut model
Deciding how to deal with the large number of remaining Hamas fighters and their families has prompted officials to consider the “Beirut model,” according to the newspaper.
In 1982, Israeli military forces surrounded Beirut in an attempt to weaken the power of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon.
A two-month siege and intense Israeli bombardment in Beirut led to a US agreement to end the fighting and allow Yasser Arafat and about 11,000 Palestinian fighters to leave Lebanon for Tunisia.
According to the newspaper, leaving Gaza would be fundamentally different from the perspective of Palestinian fighters today than when they left Lebanon in 1982.
While the militants are bystanders in Beirut, the Gaza Strip is their home and part of the independent Palestinian state.
A senior Israeli official said it was unclear whether Hamas fighters would opt for exile.
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