Who Will Rule Gaza After the War? Ex-IDF Spokesman Sees Just One Option

JERUSALEM, Israel—If Hamas is dismantled and the war between Israel and the terrorist group comes to an end, Israel will need to step in and “rule Gaza” for a time, a former international spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces says.  

“I think in [an] interim period, Israel will apply a military occupation of it and rule Gaza to make sure that Hamas is indeed defeated, that there [are] no pockets of resistance and terrorism and guerrilla [warfare], etc.,” Jonathan Conricus, the ex-IDF spokesman, told The Daily Signal at the Jewish News Syndicate International Policy Summit in Jerusalem.  

Once Hamas and its sympathizers are completely defeated in Gaza, “Israel will move out, and then it will transition,” said Conricus, who is also a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “It has to transition to local self-governance by Palestinians, not by Hamas, and not by corrupt Palestinian Authority officials, but by local, vetted, non-terror-aligned Palestinians that have local standing in Gaza and that show that their trajectory, what they value, is the present and the future, and that they want to build a different Gaza.” 

This plan will require patience, according to the former IDF spokesman, adding, “I don’t think that we have any other options.”  

Conricus estimates it will take about five years to see positive change in Gaza, providing a “good plan” is in place with proper funding.  

“To think that this is a quick fix that can be done quickly would be naive and misleading. That is not the situation,” he said. “There is a very bad situation that has been going on for many years and, as such, it will take many years to undo.”  

In the meantime, Conricus says Egypt needs to allow the people of Gaza to flee the war-torn region they are living in.  

The Rafah border crossing connecting Gaza and Egypt is currently closed. It opened briefly in February to allow some sick and wounded to cross, but then closed again.  

Egypt is “enhancing the suffering” of the Palestinians by not allowing them to flee Gaza, Conricus said.  

“The conflict between Israel and Hamas is the only conflict that I’m aware of where civilians have been actively prevented from fleeing the battlefield,” he said.  

The former IDF spokesman said Israel does not want “civilians stuck in a war zone,” but with the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the north and east, Egypt to the south is the only viable location for the Palestinians to flee.  

Asked if Egypt is keeping its border closed to Palestinians out of fear that some Hamas terrorists might enter among the civilian population, Conricus said he thinks that “Egypt has quite elaborate ties with terrorists as it is.”  

In February, President Donald Trump touted a plan to move residents out of Gaza so the region could be rebuilt to become the “Riviera of the Middle East.” In response, Egypt announced that it was also working on a plan to rebuild Gaza that would allow the Palestinian people to remain in the territory during reconstruction.  

Conricus called it “absurd” that Egypt, a country that isn’t allowing in Palestinians, is also “opposing President Trump’s plan” for rebuilding Gaza.  

“I hope that President Trump’s plan will actually turn into reality,” he said.

Speaking as an Israeli, Conricus said he does not just want security in Gaza for Israel’s interests, but so that the people who live across the border can have “prosperity so that when they think about their future, they won’t be thinking about killing the Jews and waging jihad against Israel … [but] they’ll think of their future, what they want to leave behind for their kids, and they will have an imperative to do good things for themselves.”  

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