US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is considering presenting a plan for postwar Gaza following the US Presidential elections next month, Axios correspondent Barak Ravid reported.
According to the report, which cited anonymous officials, the plan Blinken would present would be based on ideas from Israel and the United Arab Emirates. White House and State Department officials are reportedly concerned that this plan would not include a substantial role for the Palestinian Authority and Mahmoud Abbas in postwar Gaza.
Presenting a plan for the day after the war in Gaza could mark a shift in American efforts, which have been focused on securing a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization. With Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar rejecting all ceasefire proposals, developing a plan for after the war is seen as a way forward toward the end of the conflict.
Some officials in the State Department claimed that the proposal would only serve Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that the Palestinian Arabs would reject it out of hand.
In July, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed's special envoy Lana Nusseibeh published an Op Ed in the Financial Times outlining a proposal in which the UAE would contribute troops to an international mission that would provide humanitarian aid in Gaza and prepare the enclave for the return to self-governance. The proposal called for the inclusion of the Palestinian Authority, but only after the PA is reformed and under the leadership of a new prime minister, a condition that was seen as an attempt to marginalize Mahmoud Abbas.
Israel reportedly opposes the idea of allowing the PA to play a substantial role in the first stages of the rehabilitation of Gaza and would prefer that the PA's participation begin at a later point.
The Biden Administration warned Israel this week that it has 30 days to allow more American humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip or America will cut off military aid to Israel.
The threat was made in a letter written by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and delivered to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Monday.
The American officials stated that there has been a decline in the amount of humanitarian aid that has entered Gaza in recent months and that this raises "questions" about Israel's commitment not to place restrictions on the entry of aid into the enclave.
The letter states, “We are particularly concerned that recent actions by the Israeli government—including halting commercial imports, denying or impeding nearly 90 percent of humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza in September, continuing burdensome and excessive dual-use restrictions, and instituting new vetting and onerous liability and customs requirements for humanitarian staff and shipments—together with increased lawlessness and looting—are contributing to an accelerated deterioration in the conditions in Gaza.”
The letter also criticized recent legislation in the Knesset targeting UNRWA, the UN agency tasked with caring for the descendants of Arab refugees which has been shown to employ Hamas terrorists, including multiple terrorists who took part in the October 7 massacre.