The international community must actively work to weaken Hamas while rebuilding Gaza, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi has told his counterparts in the United States and in the region.
Ashkenazi spoke with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ahead of his arrival in Israel, as well as with the foreign ministers of the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.
The conversations held in the days preceding Thursday’s ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and afterwards, set out four points on which Israel believes aid arrangements for Gaza must be based.
The efforts must include weakening Hamas and preventing the group from arming itself by smuggling in and making its own weapons.
In addition, the rehabilitation of Gaza must be monitored closely by international supervisors, with the aid going directly to specific projects and kept away from Hamas.
The final point Ashkenazi made was that the Israeli civilians captured by Hamas – Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed – as well as the soldiers whose bodies Gaza’s rulers continue to hold – Lt. Hadar Goldin and St.-Sgt. Oron Shaul – must be returned to Israel.
The families of the Israelis held captive in Gaza have long insisted that Israel should prevent all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza until the captives are released.
Ashkenazi emphasized that all four points must be implemented.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz made similar points in a briefing on Sunday, though he admitted it would be impossible to completely stop Hamas from confiscating some of the reconstruction materials and diverting them for military use.
“I’m not naive; some of the materials we let in will go to Hamas,” Gantz said in a briefing. “In the end, it’s complicated. You need cement to build, and some of it goes to the terror tunnels.”
Gantz met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to discuss the problems associated with the transfer to Gaza of funds and dual-use items, which can have both a civilian and a military function.
Rebuilding Gaza is top on Blinken’s agenda this week as he visits Israel and the Palestinian territories. The secretary of state said on Sunday that the Biden administration would ensure that aid does not go to Hamas by working with “trusted, independent parties that can help do the reconstruction and the development, not some quasi-governmental authority.”
European countries are also concerned about investing once again in the reconstruction of Gaza without assurances that a mechanism is in place to prevent another outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas.
Meanwhile, senior Hamas official Khaled Mashaal told The Wall Street Journal that he would “prefer that the reconstruction of Gaza be directed from the countries to our channels directly.” In an interview with Al-Hadath, a Saudi-owned news channel, Mashaal called for “benevolent Arabs” – meaning foreign donors from Arab countries – to unite behind the Palestinian cause and help rebuild Gaza.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry was in Amman on Sunday and Monday to discuss Gaza reconstruction before arriving in Ramallah to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Earlier on Monday, Gantz issued five military seizure orders against items Hamas had attempted to smuggle in and out of Gaza for its military wing. The IDF had confiscated the items in the days leading up to the 11-day war, known as Operation Guardian of the Walls, which began on May 10. It has now issued official confiscation orders for the items.
This includes gold worth NIS one million ($307,000) that Hamas and other Gaza terror groups had smuggled into Judea and Samaria to finance terror activity in the West Bank. The gold, weighing 13 kg., was shaped as nails and hidden within wooden pallets.
Other dual-use items seized included shipments of potassium chloride, glycerin, polyurethane, polyester, fiberglass and communications equipment.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Hamas launched 4,000 rockets against Israel, of which hundreds fell short and hit Gaza. The IDF also carried out 1,500 strikes on the coastal enclave.
Those strikes were designed to hit Hamas terror targets, but also inevitably caused civilian damage.
In the interim, the IDF has not announced a date when the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings will be opened to normal passage of goods and people. Kerem Shalom is the main artery for commercial goods into the Gaza Strip, while Erez is for pedestrian transit.
The third crossing into Gaza is on Egypt’s border at Rafah, but it is not designed for major commercial use.
In a sign that the truce might hold the Defense Ministry announced Monday night that Kerem Shalom would be open for the passage of humanitarian goods such as medicine, goods and fuel, while Erez would be open for medical patients, journalists and the staff of international organizations.
Earlier in the day a shipment of humanitarian goods for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees was also allowed to cross into Gaza.
The Gaza fishing zone which had been closed since the start of the war, was due to be reopened on Tuesday morning up to six nautical miles.
The closure of the crossings means that at present, goods and people cannot get in and out of Gaza. Typically, the crossings operate normally in periods of calm but are closed in times of hostility.
An exception was made on Monday for journalists and employees of international organizations. A shipment of humanitarian goods for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees was also allowed to cross into Gaza.
The left-wing organization Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom and Movement – has called on Israel to open the crossings, particularly for humanitarian goods.
“The closure is illegal, morally wrong and life threatening,” it stated.
During Operation Guardian of the Walls, terrorists twice shelled aid convoys traveling into Gaza, killing two and injuring at least 10.