An Israeli military vehicle patrols on the Israeli side of the Gaza border, May 7, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen Purchase Licensing Rights
US, Israel discuss possible US-led administration for Gaza, sources say
JERUSALEM,
May 7 (Reuters) - The United States and Israel have discussed the
possibility of Washington leading a temporary post-war administration of
Gaza, according to five people familiar with the matter.
The
"high-level" consultations have centered around a transitional
government headed by a U.S. official that would oversee Gaza until it
had been demilitarized and stabilized, and a viable Palestinian
administration had emerged, the sources said.
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According
to the discussions, which remain preliminary, there would be no fixed
timeline for how long such a U.S.-led administration would last, which
would depend on the situation on the ground, the five sources said.
The
sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not
authorized to discuss the talks publicly, compared the proposal to the
Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq that Washington established in
2003, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
The
authority was perceived by many Iraqis as an occupying force and it
transferred power to an interim Iraqi government in 2004 after failing
to contain a growing insurgency.
Other
countries would be invited to take part in the U.S.-led authority in
Gaza, the sources said, without identifying which ones. They said the
administration would draw on Palestinian technocrats but would exclude
Islamist group Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, which holds limited
authority in the occupied West Bank.
Islamist
group Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, sparked the current war
when its militants stormed into southern Israeli communities on October
7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capturing
another 251.
The
sources said it remained unclear whether any agreement could be
reached. Discussions had not progressed to the point of considering who
might take on core roles, they said.
The sources did not specify which side had put forward the proposal nor provide further details of the talks.
In
response to Reuters questions, a State Department spokesperson did not
comment directly on whether there had been discussions with Israel about
a U.S.-led provisional authority in Gaza, saying they could not speak
to ongoing negotiations.
"We
want peace, and the immediate release of the hostages," the
spokesperson said, adding that: "The pillars of our approach remain
resolute: stand with Israel, stand for peace."
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment.
In
an April interview with Emirati-owned Sky News Arabia, Israeli Foreign
Minister Gideon Saar said he believed there would be a "transitional
period" after the conflict in which an international board of trustees,
including "moderate Arab countries", would oversee Gaza with
Palestinians operating under their guidance.
"We're
not looking to control the civil life of the people in Gaza. Our sole
interest in the Gaza Strip is security," he said, without naming which
countries he believed would be involved. The foreign ministry did not
respond to a request for further comment.
Ismail
Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office,
rejected the idea of an administration led by the United States or any
foreign government, saying the Palestinian people of Gaza should choose
their own rulers.
The Palestinian Authority did not respond to a request for comment.
RISKS
A
U.S.-led provisional authority in Gaza would draw Washington deeper
into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mark its biggest Middle East
intervention since the Iraq invasion.
Such
a move would carry significant risks of a backlash from both allies and
adversaries in the Middle East, if Washington were perceived as an
occupying power in Gaza, two of the sources said.
The
United Arab Emirates - which established diplomatic relations with
Israel in 2020 - has proposed to the United States and Israel that an international coalition
oversee Gaza's post-war governance. Abu Dhabi conditioned its
involvement on the inclusion of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority
and a credible path toward Palestinian statehood.
The
UAE foreign ministry did not respond to questions about whether it
would support a U.S.-led administration that did not include the PA.
Israel's
leadership, including Netanyahu, firmly rejects any role in Gaza for
the Palestinian Authority, which it accuses of being anti-Israeli.
Netanyahu also opposes Palestinian sovereignty.
Netanyahu
said on Monday that Israel would expand its attacks in Gaza and that
more Gazans would be moved "for their own safety". Israel is still
seeking to recover 59 hostages being held in the enclave. Its offensive
has so far killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza
health ministry data.
Some
members of Netanyahu's right-coalition have called publicly for what
they describe as the "voluntary" mass migration of Palestinians from
Gaza and for the reconstruction of Jewish settlements inside the coastal
enclave.
But
behind closed doors, some Israeli officials have also been weighing
proposals over the future of Gaza that sources say assumes that there
won't be a mass exodus of Palestinians from Gaza, such as the U.S.-led
provisional administration.
Among
those include restricting reconstruction to designated security zones,
dividing the territory and establishing permanent military bases, said
four sources, who include foreign diplomats and former Israeli officials
briefed on the proposals.
Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Daniel Flynn