Israel's defence minister has laid out for the first time preliminary plans for the post-war administration of Gaza, saying neither Israel nor Hamas will rule the Palestinian territory after hostilities there conclude.
The plan for the "day after" the war was unveiled Thursday night on the eve of a trip to the region by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is heading back to the Middle East for the fourth time since a Hamas attack on October 7 triggered the war in Gaza.
Questions over the future of the territory have been front of mind for many as calls mount for a ceasefire, with civilian deaths soaring and the UN warning of a humanitarian crisis that has left hundreds of thousands displaced and facing famine and disease.
An outline of the post-war plan by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, shared with the press ahead of its submission to the country's war cabinet, said "Hamas will not govern Gaza, (and) Israel will not govern Gaza's civilians.
"Gaza residents are Palestinian, therefore Palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel," it added.
Under the plan, which has not yet been adopted, Israel's war in the territory will continue until it has secured the return of the hostages taken on October 7 and dismantled Hamas's "military and governing capabilities".
After that, the outline says, a new phase will begin during which local Palestinian bodies will assume the territory's governance.
Israel launched its campaign to destroy Hamas after the group's bloody October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
The militants also took around 250 hostages, 132 of whom remain in captivity, according to Israel.
The military's relentless bombardment and ground invasion have reduced swathes of Gaza to rubble and claimed at least 22,438 lives, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
- 'No water, no electricity, no food' -
On Thursday the army reported more strikes in and around Gaza City, now a largely devastated urban combat zone, and Khan Yunis, the biggest city in the territory's south.
The army said it had killed Hamas fighters around Khan Yunis, struck "terrorist infrastructure" in the area and hit militants attempting to "place an explosive device near soldiers".
It also said that an air strike in northern Gaza had killed the chief of operational staff for Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group fighting alongside Hamas.
Displacements continued unabated, with AFP footage showing families arriving in the southern border city of Rafah in overloaded cars and on foot pushing handcarts stacked with bedding and other possessions.
"We fled Jabalia camp to Maan (in Khan Yunis) and now we are fleeing from Maan to Rafah," said one woman who declined to give her name.
"They were shooting at us. (We have) no water, no electricity and no food."
During his visit, Blinken will hold what threaten to be tough talks with Israeli leaders on "immediate measures to increase substantially humanitarian assistance to Gaza", State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
"We don't expect every conversation on this trip to be easy. There are obviously tough issues facing the region and difficult choices ahead," Miller said.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk, meanwhile, said he was "very disturbed" by recent comments from two Israeli cabinet ministers who separately called for Palestinians to leave Gaza, raising fears of mass expulsions.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had also called for Israeli settlers to return to Gaza after the war, echoing similar comments by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
But the post-war plan presented by Gallant on Thursday said that while Israel would reserve the right to operate inside the territory, there would be "no Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip after the goals of the war have been achieved".
- Regional tensions -
Israel's war against Hamas has threatened to spill over into a wider regional conflict after a strike in Lebanon -- widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel -- killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri.
Aruri was killed on Tuesday in the south Beirut stronghold of the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, which has traded tit-for-tat fire across the border with Israel for months.
Hezbollah has vowed that the killing on its home turf will not go unpunished, and its leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel against all-out conflict after Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi said troops on the Lebanese border were "in very high readiness".
The Shiite Muslim militant group said on Thursday another four of its fighters were killed overnight, raising its losses to 129 since the outbreak of border hostilities.
Defence Minister Gallant said on social media that Israel preferred "a political solution" to the border clashes, but that "the window of time for this is short".
The Israeli government has been pushing for Hezbollah to withdraw from the border area.
Regional tensions were further inflamed after twin bomb blasts in Iran on Wednesday killed 84 people near the grave of Revolutionary Guards general Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad four years ago.
The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for the double-tap suicide bombings on Thursday, after Iran initially blamed Israel and the United States in the aftermath of the blasts.
Blinken back to Middle East
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed back to the Middle East Thursday on his fourth trip since the Israel-Hamas war began, expecting tough talks as he presses for immediate new aid for battered Gaza and regional de-escalation.
The top American diplomat will visit both Israel and the West Bank, home of the Palestinian Authority, and five Arab countries -- Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the State Department said.
Blinken departed late Thursday bound first for Turkey -- an uneasy US ally that is the home of key Hamas leaders despite being one of the few Muslim-majority countries to recognize Israel -- followed by Greece.
He will discuss "immediate measures to increase substantially humanitarian assistance to Gaza," where the World Health Organization has warned of the risk of famine and disease.
"We don't expect every conversation on this trip to be easy. There are obviously tough issues facing the region and difficult choices ahead," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
"But the secretary believes it is the responsibility of the United States of America to lead diplomatic efforts to tackle those challenges head on," he said.
Blinken on previous trips sought to keep the war isolated to Gaza. But he returns to a region that has seen attacks in or from Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Iran.
A strike inside Lebanon widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel killed a top Hamas leader on Tuesday, and Iran-backed Huthi rebels have been firing on ships in the Red Sea in avowed solidarity with Gaza.
In a pre-trip telephone call, Blinken agreed with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna to seek to "de-escalate tensions in the West Bank and to avoid escalation in Lebanon and Iran," the State Department said.
Iran was hit Wednesday by one of the deadliest attacks since its 1979 Islamic revolution, with twin blasts killing at least 84 people gathered to commemorate a slain Revolutionary Guards general.
Tehran initially blamed Israel and the United States, although the Islamic State group later claimed responsibility and US officials rejected any US or Israeli role.
- Mounting toll -
President Joe Biden's administration has provided crucial support for Israel since it suffered its deadliest-ever attack on October 7, when Hamas fighters streamed across the militarized border and killed around 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
The United States has twice exercised its veto at the UN Security Council against ceasefire calls, drawing outrage in the Arab world, and just days ago Blinken for the second time bypassed Congress to rush weapons to Israel.
But Biden has also openly voiced exasperation at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he pursues a relentless retaliatory offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, much of which has been reduced to rubble.
More than 22,400 people in Gaza have died, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and the vast majority of residents of the impoverished and blockaded territory have been forced from their homes.
The Biden administration has taken credit for coaxing Israel on several aid issues, including allowing limited gas and commercial trucks to enter.
Another concern for the Biden administration has been calls by far-right members of Netanyahu's cabinet for Palestinians to be encouraged to leave the Gaza Strip en masse.
Blinken is also likely to press Israel to stop blocking the transfer of tax revenue to the Palestinian Authority, a longstanding arrangement that is opposed by Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.
Washington sees a future in the Gaza Strip for the Palestinian Authority, whose ruling Fatah faction is the rival of Hamas, but Netanyahu has long sought to weaken the semi-autonomous body and opposes the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.
- Turkey-Greece balance -
Blinken will pay a brief visit Saturday to Greece, which is jittery about an expected US sale of advanced F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, its historic adversary.
The Biden administration is expected to offer the jets once Turkey gives a long-delayed greenlight to NATO membership for Sweden, which shed earlier hesitation on entering the Western military alliance following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
NATO requires unanimity and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had used his leverage to press for concessions, including action by Sweden against Kurdish militants opposed to Ankara.
Turkey's parliament is moving ahead on ratification. Turkey last year allowed the entry into NATO of Finland, which had launched a joint membership bid with Sweden.