Israel will not accept Hamas rule in Gaza and is examining alternatives, its defense minister said, a further indication that it is shelving a ceasefire proposal announced by US President Joe Biden as Palestinian fighters continue to resist the invasion.
“While we carry out our important military actions, the defense establishment is simultaneously evaluating an alternative government to Hamas,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement on Sunday.
“We will isolate areas, we will eliminate Hamas operatives from these areas and we will introduce forces that will allow the formation of an alternative government, an alternative that threatens Hamas,” Gallant added.
“On the one hand, military action and on the other the ability to change governments. [This] will lead to the achievement of two of the objectives of this war: the dismantling of the Hamas government and its military power, and the return of the hostages. “We will not accept Hamas rule in Gaza at any stage of any process aimed at ending the war.”
Pressure is mounting on Israel's government after Biden announced the proposal on Friday, saying it was an “Israeli” truce deal and urging Hamas to accept it. The group that has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007 reacted “positively” to the US president's statements.
Israel's war cabinet meets later on Sunday.
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have vowed to resign from the Benjamin Netanyahu-led government if the ceasefire proposal is accepted.
“The agreement… means the end of the war and the abandonment of the goal of destroying Hamas. “This is a reckless agreement that constitutes a victory for terrorism and a threat to the security of the State of Israel,” Ben-Gvir said.
Ophir Falk, Israel's top foreign policy adviser, said Biden's plan is a “deal we agreed to; It is not a good agreement, but we desperately want the hostages to be freed, all of them.”
'Every expectation was that Israel would say yes'
Yossi Beilin, a former cabinet minister and peace negotiator, said that even if far-right members leave the government, it can still survive if the parties of opposition leader Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz replace them.
“The right-wing government is causing us enormous problems. It was a political decision by Netanyahu, who just three years earlier refused to join them. But because he needed them to have a majority and become prime minister again, he accepted something that he should never have accepted,” Beilin told Al Jazeera.
“If this agreement is finally connected to a broader regional agreement, according to Arab countries [Peace] The 2002 initiative and the willingness of the Saudis will be his most important legacy. Otherwise, his legacy will be very disappointing.”
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said that if Hamas accepts Biden's ceasefire proposal to end the war, the United States hopes Israel will also accept the plan.
“This was an Israeli proposal. We have every expectation that if Hamas accepts the proposal – as it was conveyed to them, an Israeli proposal – then Israel will say 'yes,'” Kirby said in an interview on ABC News' This Week.
More than 100,000 Israeli protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday demanding that the Netanyahu-led coalition sign the truce proposal.
'Catastrophic' hunger spreads in Gaza
Pressure is mounting on Israel and Egypt to reopen land crossings connecting to Gaza to allow desperately needed aid deliveries. Hundreds of aid trucks have been stuck in Egypt with food supplies rotting for weeks after Israel seized control of the crucial Rafah crossing last month.
“The closure of the nine potential crossings is a catastrophe,” Ahmed Bayram, spokesman for the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group, told Al Jazeera.
“Our teams tell us daily that children sleep in the sand because there are no tents left, they drink contaminated water all day and eat very, very little.”
Even before Israel took control of the Rafah crossing, the number of aid trucks entering Gaza was far below the total needed. The United Nations says at least 500 to 600 trucks a day are needed to feed hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of famine.
Officials from Egypt, the United States and Israel met in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the worsening humanitarian situation on the ground.
Al-Qahera News, which is linked to Egyptian intelligence, quoted a senior official as saying: “The Egyptian security delegation affirmed Israel's full responsibility for humanitarian aid not entering the Gaza Strip… Egypt signed on to its firm position on the need for Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing to resume its operation.”
