Israel allows US company to enter Gaza and identify Hamas weapon delivery sites

Israel has approved the entry of an American company, commissioned by the “Peace Council,” into the Gaza Strip in the coming days to begin steps related to sites where Hamas is expected to hand over its weapons.

Israeli Channel 11 reported on Sunday evening that the company will begin “searching and surveying several sites where Hamas can hand over rifles and weapons for destruction.”

According to the report, members of the American company’s team will enter southern Gaza in the Rafah and Khan Younis areas, moving to sites under Israeli control, to conduct field surveys “to identify complexes that ensure access for armed Gazians to surrender their weapons, under (security supervision) by the Israeli military.”

The delivery mechanism has not yet been determined, nor how armed individuals in Gaza will be able to surrender their weapons “without posing a threat to Israeli military forces.”

A senior security official, described by the report as high-ranking, stated that Washington is “exerting intense pressure on Israel to proceed with the plan, despite Israel’s pessimism regarding its success, and despite Hamas’s apparent declaration of its intention to relinquish its weapons, while in reality it is rebuilding its strength in the Strip.”

Israeli intelligence agencies estimate that Hamas is intensifying its preparations for the possibility of renewed fighting in the Strip, taking advantage of the current period to rebuild its capabilities and accumulate weapons, based on the movement’s assessment that Israel will not receive a green light from the United States to resume large-scale military operations in the Strip before the Israeli and American elections.

According to a report published last Monday by the Ma’ariv newspaper, an intelligence image presented to the Israeli political level indicates that Hamas is working on stockpiling and transferring weapons as part of its preparations for the possibility of changing political conditions after the elections and an expanded margin for Israeli military action in Gaza.

On another front, MK Amit Halevi, a member of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, called for a change in the vision and concept of security in the West Bank, including the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority and the re-establishment of full Israeli control there.

He argued that without a change in Israel’s security vision, Israel will continue to face “waves of terrorism.”

Militarily, Major General Shay Taib, head of the Planning and Human Resources Directorate in the Israeli military, concluded his duties and spoke about the shortage in the number of soldiers.

He said, “The army lacked, and still lacks, thousands of soldiers to alleviate the burden and meet all needs. Members of the Haredi community are meeting operational requirements and contributing to increasing the number of troops.”