JERUSALEM: Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Sunday that Israel was “assessing a governing alternative” to Hamas in the Gaza Strip after its war against the Palestinian group ends.

Gallant had previously said he opposed Israeli military rule in Gaza, where Hamas seized power from the Palestinian Authority in 2007.

“While we conduct our important military actions, the defence establishment is simultaneously assessing a governing alternative to Hamas,” Gallant said according to a statement from his office.

Meeting troops near the Gaza border on Sunday, the minister described a “framework” that includes “isolating areas” of Gaza and clearing them of Hamas, “and bringing in other forces that will enable the formation of a governing alternative”.

Gallant last month said “the day after Hamas” would see “Palestinian entities taking control of Gaza, accompanied by international actors”.

US expects Israel to accept Gaza peace plan if Hamas does

On May 15, he slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the lack of a post-war plan for the Palestinian territory, which between 1967 and 2005 was under direct Israeli rule.

Gallant urged Netanyahu “to make a decision and declare that Israel will not establish civilian control over the Gaza strip”.

The war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Hamas also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory bombardments and ground offensive have killed at least 36,439 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Gallant on Sunday said that “the military operation on one hand and creating the potential for a governing alternative on the other will enable us to achieve two of the goals of this war: the removal of Hamas as a governing and military authority in Gaza, and the return of the hostages.”

“We will not accept the rule of Hamas in Gaza at any stage in any process aimed at ending the war,” he said.

Meanwhile according to Gallant, the military operation in Rafah, launched in early May, was “progressing above and below the ground”.

Israel has said its forces were targeting tunnels in the Rafah area, which it alleges Hamas uses to smuggle weapons into Gaza.