{"id":561899,"date":"2026-07-27T13:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T13:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/561899\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T13:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T13:40:08","slug":"israels-approval-of-limited-gaza-force-a-calculated-manoeuvre-experts-say-benjamin-netanyahu-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/561899\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s approval of limited Gaza force a calculated manoeuvre, experts say | Benjamin Netanyahu News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Months after the United Nations Security Council backed a comprehensive framework to end Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza<\/a>, Israel\u2019s security cabinet has approved a highly constrained pilot project to\u00a0allow foreign security forces<\/a> into a narrow pocket of the devastated territory.<\/p>\n

Israeli media reported on Sunday that the so-called International Stabilization Force (ISF)<\/a>, part of United States President Donald Trump\u2019s 20-point \u201cpeace plan\u201d, will include 200 members from countries such as Morocco and Uganda deploying to a designated \u201ctest\u201d zone in the southern city of Rafah.<\/p>\n

While international officials have welcomed the move, analysts describe the limited deployment as a calculated diplomatic gesture with little practical effect that comes as the US-backed peace process has largely stalled and as Israel\u2019s deadly attacks<\/a> continue.<\/p>\n

Instead of a genuine transition towards peace, they argue, the move is a political manoeuvre designed to deflect US pressure ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s visit to Washington<\/a> this week, while simultaneously entrenching the geographic fragmentation of the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

\u201cNetanyahu is going to Washington to say \u2018no\u2019 to the broader demands of withdrawal\u201d from the Strip, says Wissam Afifa, a Gaza-based political analyst. \u201cInstead, he is offering this alternative: \u2018Take this small appetiser, take this minor achievement, and play within this highly restricted space.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Scaled-back forces and \u2018rubber batons\u2019<\/p>\n

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the original plan anticipated the deployment of 500 Moroccan troops to a refugee camp in the city. The drastic reduction to just 200 troops may indicate that Israel\u2019s political-security cabinet has decided to divide the deployment into even smaller, heavily controlled stages.<\/p>\n

The force will operate in full coordination with the Israeli military. According to the Israeli news outlet Ynet, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was the sole cabinet member to vote against the measure<\/a>, arguing that the Palestinian group Hamas had failed to fulfill its commitment to disarm and insisting that \u201cthe solution in Gaza is to encourage migration\u201d.<\/p>\n

Israeli media also reported that the government maintains that the Israeli military will retain control of the \u201cYellow Line\u201d \u2013 a unilaterally imposed boundary that effectively places up to 70 percent of the Gaza Strip under tight Israeli control \u2013 and that no withdrawal will take place until Hamas has fully disarmed.<\/p>\n

The original framework endorsed by UNSC Resolution 2803<\/a> called for the deployment of an international force alongside a transitional Palestinian administration.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Hamas announced it would dissolve its government in Gaza and hand over power to a new, Palestinian technocratic governing authority called the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Analysts said<\/a> Hamas\u2019s move was likely designed to apply pressure on Israel and demonstrate the group\u2019s commitment to handing over governance and allowing the rebuilding of the territory.<\/p>\n

The pilot programme also envisions the NCAG\u2019s entry to oversee civil affairs in Gaza. Yet, according to Haaretz, the Palestinian police accompanying them will be stripped of firearms, permitted to carry only \u201crubber batons and tasers\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, preparations on the ground appear to be moving forward to accommodate this new security architecture. Israeli Army Radio recently broadcast a video showing a military base under construction in the southern \u201cGaza envelope\u201d near the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.<\/p>\n

The station reported that the sprawling facility is being built specifically to host the incoming multinational forces before their deployment.<\/p>\n

Despite the severe Israeli restrictions, Nickolay Mladenov<\/a>, the high representative for the Board of Peace<\/a>, welcomed the Israeli cabinet\u2019s decision, praising it as a \u201ccritical part of the agreed framework for stabilizing Gaza, supporting demilitarization, and enabling the transition to effective Palestinian transitional administration\u201d.<\/p>\n

A \u2018sweetener\u2019 for Washington<\/p>\n

To understand the timing and motivation behind the decision, experts pointed to the diplomatic deadlock surrounding the US-brokered peace initiative. Trump\u2019s plan envisioned a phased approach, bridged by the handover of Gaza to a technocratic committee. However, this framework has been stalled by Israel\u2019s refusal to link a ceasefire to the broader political situation and its rejection of a phased withdrawal.<\/p>\n

Afifa said the \u201cfailure\u201d of the US administration\u2019s flagship initiative had left it \u201cembarrassed\u201d as the project that was repeatedly highlighted by Trump \u201cas a great achievement, resulted in zero\u201d.<\/p>\n

With Netanyahu heading to Washington, the Israeli prime minister desperately needed a deliverable, said Afifa. The cabinet\u2019s decision, passed hastily via a telephone vote during a Knesset recess to avoid internal coalition fractures, provides exactly that, he added.<\/p>\n

Mamoun Abu Amer, an expert on Israeli affairs, echoed this assessment. He viewed the rushed cabinet vote as an attempt to preempt US pressure and present an image of compliance to Trump, while fundamentally altering the agreement\u2019s core terms to suit Israel\u2019s long-term security strategy.<\/p>\n

Abu Amer also said that Israel has effectively turned Resolution 2803 upside down through selective and highly conditional implementation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an inverted process,\u201d said Abu Amer. The original text implied that the NCAG would enter Gaza, the ISF would deploy and the Israeli military would withdraw to new lines to allow for stabilisation. Instead, Israel is demanding unilateral disarmament first, while keeping the technocratic committee besieged within an Israeli security envelope.<\/p>\n

Abu Amer also suggested the requirement for the Palestinian police force to only carry rubber batons and tasers reflects a premeditated Israeli strategy to strip the Palestinian administration of genuine law enforcement capabilities, reducing them to subcontractors managing municipal decay in a thoroughly devastated environment under a strict military occupation.<\/p>\n

The NCAG itself appeared to reject this Israeli paradigm. In a recent statement, the committee declared it would only assume responsibility for Gaza after UNSC approval of the force\u2019s deployment and, crucially, a full Israeli military withdrawal.<\/p>\n

\u2018False witnesses\u2019<\/p>\n

The spatial realities of the Israeli plan reveal a strategy of deep fragmentation and long-term control, experts said, pointing to the cabinet\u2019s decision to explicitly restrict the ISF and the technocrats to operating strictly outside the \u201cYellow Line\u201d.<\/p>\n

Afifa warned that transforming a small pocket of Rafah into an \u201cexperimental bubble\u201d subverts the idea of Gaza as a single, contiguous territorial entity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis raises a massive question about the fate of two million people,\u201d he said. \u201cIf this entire project is reduced to a few thousand individuals selected under Israeli criteria, it means a tacit agreement from the international community to leave two million Gazans hostage to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis while Israel claims to be implementing a peace plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

This also carries significant diplomatic risks for the participating nations. Israeli media reported the cabinet\u2019s decision stipulated that ISF contributors must be nations that have peace agreements with Israel and do not pursue legal actions against it in international forums.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not wise for an Arab country like Morocco to be a party to helping Netanyahu implement his political agenda,\u201d said Abu Amer, urging participating nations to reject the altered Israeli formula and insist on a comprehensive withdrawal.<\/p>\n

Failing to do so, he cautioned, would reduce foreign troops to mere security buffers, acting as \u201cfalse witnesses\u201d to the continuation of the occupation and the destruction of the Palestinian society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Months after the United Nations Security Council backed a comprehensive framework to end Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1911,49,50,51,85,46,44,47,29334,43,48,16619,4497],"class_list":["post-561899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-africa","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-gaza","tag-hamas","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israel-palestine-conflict","tag-middle-east","tag-morocco","tag-news","tag-palestine","tag-uganda","tag-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}