July 26, 2026, 7:56 p.mJuly 26, 2026, 7:56 p.m
A limited area in Rafah is said to be the first to be administered by the technocrat government.Image: imago
Representatives of the Palestinian Transitional Administration and part of the international stabilization force will soon be able to begin work in a limited area in the Gaza Strip. “Haaretz”, “Jerusalem Post” and “ynet” all reported that the Israeli security cabinet had given the relevant approval.
The approval comes just before a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday. A limited area in Rafah, in the southern coastal strip, is reportedly the first to be administered by the technocrat government. It consists of civilian experts with no ties to the terrorist organization Hamas. The stabilization force is supposed to ensure security.
The aim is to start the “pilot project” in the coming weeks, reported the “Jerusalem Post”. There were different statements about which countries the soldiers would be sent from in the first phase and how many there would be.
Construction of new accommodation planned
The Jerusalem Post reported that the plan also includes the construction of temporary shelters. Palestinians who want to live there would have to undergo strict vetting to ensure they are not affiliated with Hamas, it said.
An analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank had recently criticized Trump’s Peace Council’s plans for such a pilot zone. This would cement the fragmentation of the Gaza Strip and enable the USA and Israel to create facts in order to redesign the area according to their ideas, he told the Financial Times.
There has been a ceasefire in the Gaza war since October 2025, but deadly attacks or confrontations continue to occur. As part of a “peace plan” brokered by Trump, the international “Board of Peace” was set up at the beginning of the year to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza and the post-war order. However, there has been no visible progress so far. As the approval that has now been granted shows, the Israeli government has a decisive influence on what happens next in the Gaza Strip.
Israel continues to control more than half of the sealed-off, war-ravaged coastal area. Since the start of the ceasefire, Hamas has managed to re-establish its rule in the area it continues to control. The disarmament of the Islamist terrorist organization envisaged in Trump’s peace plan has not yet been implemented. (sda/dpa)