Appointment to manage Gaza raises doubts about Israeli ambitions

It is a new position that has raised suspicions about the permanent presence of Israeli forces in Gaza.

"Brigadier General Elad Goren takes over the reinstated Israeli civil administration in the Gaza Strip," Itay Epshtain, a senior consultant in humanitarian law and policy, reacted on his X account. On Tuesday, Aug. 28, the chief of staff of the Israeli army, Herzi Halevi, announced the creation of a new position within the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), a unit of the Israeli Ministry of Defense already responsible for supervising civil policy in the occupied West Bank and facilitating logistical coordination between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Founded following the end of the Six-Day War of 1967, this unit has been denounced by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in its advisory opinion of July 19, as a continuation of the Israeli occupation in Palestine, arousing the suspicion of many observers.

Humanitarian coordination

While the Israeli military has not yet released further details about the new position, humanitarian aid is officially a major part of it.

“The role of General Elad Goren will be to manage the integration and implementation of the humanitarian effort in the Gaza Strip and coordination with the international community, in order to enable the implementation of the humanitarian effort while preserving the security interests of the State of Israel,” the Israeli military said, as quoted by The Times of Israel. However, serving in recent months as head of civil affairs at COGAT, Goren has repeatedly blamed NGOs for blocking humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza: “The problem is not our inspection, but the distribution capabilities of international organizations,” he said last March, after assuring that 99 percent of aid trucks sent to Gaza were approved by the Israeli military, contradicting U.N. reports.

The fact remains that his appointment and the attention paid to the humanitarian aspect of his role can be interpreted as an attempt to show his credentials before the ICJ. As part of a complaint filed by South Africa for violation of the Genocide Convention, The Hague ordered Tel Aviv in January to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to Gaza. The appointment decision also comes at a time when pressure is increasing on the Israeli government to accept a cease-fire agreement accompanied by the release of the hostages, which would also ensure an increase in assistance to the inhabitants of the enclave. A deal that Benjamin Netanyahu still does not seem to want, despite Hamas' alleged execution on Saturday of six hostages which provoked a general strike in Israel on Monday to put pressure on the most right-wing cabinet in the country's history.

Under pressure from part of its population as well as from its American ally, Israel appears to want to impose a new status quo in Gaza to avoid having to make concessions, particularly along the Philadelphi corridor (on the border between the enclave and Egypt), the control of which by Israeli forces constitutes the main sticking point in the negotiations for a cease-fire.

Towards a new occupation?

According to available information, Goren is to be tasked with managing day-to-day logistical issues in Gaza, such as humanitarian aid deliveries, including contacts with international organizations, and repairing destroyed infrastructure. These prerogatives could be extended in the event of a cease-fire, according to some observers.

"It seems that this step is finally a preparation measure for a longer period, but politically, it is not yet certain that this will come to fruition," said Peter Lintl, a specialist in Israeli politics.

While talks on the governance of the enclave and reconstruction in the post-war period are to take place during the first phase of a possible agreement, Israel seems to want to play its cards here too. According to the Israeli daily Ynet, the Israeli army has mandated Elad Goren to lead the restoration of civilian facilities in Gaza and the surveillance operations planned on the Netzarim axis when Gazans return to the north of the enclave. Hamas had set the freedom of movement of the residents of the enclave as well as the total withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip of land as conditions for any agreement.

"This new function is not a facade. It will have an important role in the years to come. Whoever believes that Israeli control and intervention in the Gaza Strip will soon end, whether by stopping the fighting or not, or even with or without an agreement, is mistaken," said a senior Israeli security official, quoted by Ynet.

These comments suggest a new, more extensive occupation of Gaza, which Hamas rejects outright. A document serving as a post-war plan was submitted by Benjamin Netanyahu to the Israeli security cabinet last February, stipulating that Israel will retain "its freedom of operational action throughout the Gaza Strip, without time limit."

Since the beginning of Israeli operations in the enclave, Netanyahu's ultranationalist and far-right allies have made numerous statements in favor of a reoccupation of Gaza. Last June, speaking in the kibbutz of Nitzan in the south of the country, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the reconstruction of settlements in the strip of land: "Our heroic fighters and soldiers are destroying the evil of Hamas and we will occupy the Gaza Strip," he said.

He added: "To tell the truth, where there are no settlements, there is no security."

The Israeli prime minister has never officially considered reestablishing Jewish settlements in Gaza. The fact remains that the creation of the position assigned to Goren suggests an evolution of his prerogatives toward a resumption of the occupation of Gaza by Israel, almost twenty years after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave in 2005. Especially since with this appointment, the lieutenant was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, a rank only attributed within the COGAT to the head of the Civil Administration of the occupied West Bank.

This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.