Weekly Commentary: Israel Drops Third Party Fantasy - Appoints Brig. Gen. as Head of the Civil Administration for Gaza
Dr. Aaron Lerner 28 August 2024

Yoav Zitun reported in YNET that Brigadier General Elad Goren was appointed today to serve as the head of the Civil Administration for Gaza. Goren has many years of experience serving in the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) headquarters.

To be clear: there already is an officer responsible for coordination of daily activities addressing immediate humanitarian needs such as interface with aid groups and infrastructure repair.

Goren instead is slated to have overarching responsibility for civilian matters in the Gaza Strip for the years to come.

The appointment is a watershed event as it indicates that the Israeli authorities have abandoned the fantasy that it is possible to leave an authority vacuum in the Gaza Strip until such time that an acceptable third party takes responsibility for the area.

And it is highly doubtful that an "acceptable third party" exists. "Third party administrators" could easily become "third party human shields" for a revived Hamas.

Yes, this is going to cost Israel. But it’s a cost we need to pay to ensure that the sacrifices made since October 7 last year achieve permanent, rather than temporary, changes on the ground.

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