Israeli news program today have been commenting on the threats coming from the Israeli government to annex all, or parts, of Gaza and Yehuda and Shomron (the West Bank).
This is an empty discussion. It means nothing. It might even be just a propaganda ploy. But it does expose a problem the Netanyahu government has been unwilling to face since the beginning of the war; International Law requires that an occupying arm is responsible for the civilians in the areas they have taken. The former army chief of staff (and his successor) told the cabinet repeatedly that the IDF was not prepared to deal with this and the government, in turn, ignored the problem. They tried moving the people to areas under Hamas control, they tried withdrawing from some areas where there were a lot pf civilians, and, worst of all, they left dealing with the problem in the hands of Hamas, the UN, and various NGOS. Ignoring the problem did NOT make it go away. One could even argue that Hamas based much of its’ propaganda offensives on a situation where Hamas did not care about the civilians and could make political points out of their (often fake) suffering from starvation and/or genocide.
The IDF has plenty of experience in this area. The Coordinator of Government Activity in Arab Territories (COGAT) lets the Palestinian Authority run most civil activities in most of Yehuda and Shomron, but maintains a cadre to take over if necessary. But the IDF is based on using reservists for much of the current operations, and has not got manpower to spare for this. Indeed, many Israelis have a hard time justifying sending soldiers to kill Hamas militants and, at the same time, distributing aid to Palestinian civilians. This is made worse by the fact that it may take years of imposed outside rule to overcome the decades of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic teaching the Gazan residents have been subjected to.
Most Israelis are unaware of the depth of the problem. Prime Minister Netanyahu has studiously avoided dealing with it, just as he has constantly avoided making any statements taking responsivity for the debacle that occurred on Oct 7th (and the conditions preceding it). Local media has also not covered it in depth. There does seem to be a consensus in the world (including Arab countries) that Gaza must be demilitarized and Hamas cannot have part in itsA governing. But agreeing on how that is to be achieved is far from clear.
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Wetherhorn 