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Israel has informed several Arab countries that it wants to create a buffer zone in Gaza, on the Palestinian side of the border. They write the Reuters news agency on its website.
But the idea faces resistance, not only among Arab countries. An anonymous US government source tells the news agency that Israel has raised the idea but does not want to say with which countries.
But the source again emphasizes that the White House is against plans that involve the shrinking of the Palestinian territories.
One of three sources in the region spoken to by Reuters said Israel wants a buffer zone to prevent Hamas or other groups from infiltrating or attacking Israel again, in the manner of the October 7 terror attack in Israel carried out from Gaza.
Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says there is a detailed plan beyond the buffer zone – a three-part plan to crush Hamas and to demilitarize and deradicalize Gaza.
– A buffer zone can be part of a demilitarization, says Falk, who does not want to go into details about which Israel raised the issue.
The idea of a buffer zone is not entirely new, the idea existed before the Israeli military withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
An Israeli security source says there is no ready plan for how big a buffer zone would be. Gaza is a very densely populated and small area with over two million inhabitants, about 40 kilometers long and between five and twelve kilometers wide.