Plans for the "day after": Israel trying to persuade Arab officials to run Gaza

In the background of today's post-war discussions, Israeli officials are secretly promoting a plan to distribute aid in the Gaza Strip by Palestinians opposed to the Hamas movement, the Wall Street Journal reported this morning (Thursday).

According to the report, a senior Israeli official held talks with Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan in order to gather regional support for an attempt to recruit Palestinian leaders and businessmen opposed to Hamas in order to organize the humanitarian aid that the US sends to the Strip.

Arab countries will fund security forces in the Gaza

According to the sources, the aid will enter by land and sea after an Israeli inspection and will be directed to large warehouses in central Gaza, where Palestinians will distribute it. When the war is over, the people responsible for the aid will be given the authority to govern the Strip with the backing of the security forces that will be funded by wealthy Arab governments.

The sources point out that the effort represents some of the first steps that Israel has begun to take to fill the governmental void left by the war in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas attack. According to them, the US and Arab governments pressured Israel to make more of an effort to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza and formulate a clear vision for the local government after the war.