Monday Briefing

The aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on Rafah yesterday.Credit…Haitham Imad/EPA, via Shutterstock

Netanyahu said the war in Gaza could enter a new phase

The intensive phase of Israel’s war against Hamas “is about to end,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday, adding that he did not mean that the conflict was over.

Netanyahu’s remarks, in an interview on Israeli television, were the latest suggestion by Israeli officials that the war could soon change. Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said over the weekend that his meetings with Biden administration officials this week would include discussion of “the transition to ‘Phase C’ in Gaza.”

Last October, Gallant outlined a three-part battle plan, beginning with a period of intense airstrikes against Hamas targets and infrastructure, then a period of ground operations to eliminate pockets of resistance.

The third phase, Gallant said then, would be to create “a new security reality for the citizens of Israel” — presumably by achieving Israel’s stated goals of dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in Gaza.

The Israeli government has not proposed a clear plan for governing Gaza after Hamas, but in the interview Netanyahu suggested involving local Palestinians, possibly with help from moderate Arab nations. The Israeli military would maintain security control of the enclave.

West Bank: An influential Israeli official said in a taped speech at a private event that the government was stealthily trying to cement control of the occupied area. And on Saturday, a video of Israeli troops tying a wounded Palestinian to a military vehicle quickly went viral, prompting outrage and the promise of an investigation by Israel’s military.