Israel informs Arab states it wants a buffer zone in Gaza post-war: Report
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So far, no Arab states have shown any willingness to police or administer Gaza in the future. Any encroachment into Gaza would cram its 2.3 million people into an even smaller area.
Israel has informed several Arab states that it wants a buffer zone in the Gaza Strip once its conflict with Hamas ends, the news agency Reuters reported on Saturday (Dec 2) citing Egyptian and regional sources. Three of these sources told Reuters that Israel has shared its plans with its neighbours Egypt and Jordan, along with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The sources added that Saudi Arabia, which does not have ties with Israel, was also informed about the development.
Reuters reported that this initiative did not indicate an imminent end to Israel's ongoing offensive, but it showed that Israel was reaching out beyond established Arab mediators.
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So far, no Arab states have shown any willingness to police or administer Gaza in the future. According to Palestinian authorities, the Israeli offensive has killed over 15,000 people in Gaza. Hamas killed 1,200 people in its Oct 7 raid and took more than 200 hostages.
Why is Israel demanding a buffer zone?
Speaking to Reuters, a senior regional security official said that Israel was demanding a buffer zone in Gaza to prevent any Hamas or other militants from infiltrating or attacking Israel as in the October 7 attack. Ophir Falk, the foreign policy adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the news agency that the plan for a buffer zone was based on a three-tier process that involved destroying Hamas, demilitarising Gaza, and de-radicalising the enclave.
"A buffer zone may be part of the demilitarisation process," Falk said but declined to answer when asked whether those plans had been raised with international partners, including Arab states.
The idea of a buffer zone in the past too
Israel has suggested the idea of a buffer zone in the past too. However, Reuters reported that it was now presenting it to Arab states as part of its future security plans for Gaza. A US official told the news agency that Israel had "floated" the buffer zone idea without saying to whom. But the official also repeated Washington's opposition to any plan that reduced the size of Palestinian territory.
Meanwhile, a senior Israeli security source said the buffer zone idea was "being examined", adding: "It is not clear at the moment how deep this will be and whether it could be 1 km or 2 km or hundreds of metres (inside Gaza)."
Any encroachment into Gaza would cram its 2.3 million people into an even smaller area.
(With inputs form agencies)
